Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

Norris will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose 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 failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, 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 very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career