Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

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

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life