Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert 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 season, 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's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of things to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career