Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

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

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

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

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

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

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

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed 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 could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life