Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max 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 extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate 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 overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life