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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to George Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

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 clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of things to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up 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 electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life