Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

After Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

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

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

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

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