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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

The main developments of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

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

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after starting at the back

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

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

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made 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 able to employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life