Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert 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 first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event of the season 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 title despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes wane

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after 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 zone and went too deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his electric start to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life