Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in 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 fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

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

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi 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, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life