Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

• A excellent win for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following starting at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career