Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

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

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

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

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound after 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 disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career