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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will try 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 began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by 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 also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career