Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming 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 impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

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 prestigious races included:

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

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

• A excellent win for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

At the start, Norris was true 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 following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win 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"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting 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 pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several 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 something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life