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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden 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 behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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 continued his progress towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap 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 asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

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