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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

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

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

"It remains a good result 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 December 7th

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

• A superb win for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the back

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

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

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly 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 violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life