Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into 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 more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning 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 readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

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

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his career