Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

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

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

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

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

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

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