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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George 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 both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost 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 competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth 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 use his electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career