Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton 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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound following pitting 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 proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put 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 make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up 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 strong beginning to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career