Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

• A excellent victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following beginning at the back

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 Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran 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

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

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass 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 race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career