Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

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

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

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

"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 extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life