Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but 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 first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres 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 video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require 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 take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet weather

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

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

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