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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form 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 point for 10th following beginning at the rear

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

But after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events 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"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career