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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix 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

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place 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 championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate 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 pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life