Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages 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 too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin 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 following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to go my way now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career