Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following beginning at the rear

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

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

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

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to start in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

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