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

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

• A superb win for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place 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 move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his career