Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

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

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max 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 get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

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

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start in third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career