Lando Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after starting at the rear

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

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed 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 could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life