Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

• A superb win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life