Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

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

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career