Norris Advances Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

• A excellent victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after starting at the back

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

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

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

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life