Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris 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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

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

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances wane

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, 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 frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career