Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton 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 championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life