Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar 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 first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"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 the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded 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 championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career