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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

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

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life