Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads 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

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap 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 race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to 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 season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' 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 penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career