Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert 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 season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

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

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

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

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of 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 bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life