Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a 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 protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do 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 place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life