Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

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

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

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

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career