Lando Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful move 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 Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed 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 run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

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

He followed 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 tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life