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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

Following Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

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 lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life