Lando Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career