Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

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

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

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon 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 race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken 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 also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career