Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to get second place. 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 high-profile races were:

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

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

• A superb victory for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

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

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping 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 disappointing race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles 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 missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career