Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

• A superb win for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

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

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events 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 in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career