Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

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

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

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

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life