Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden 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 finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will win 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 impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after beginning at the back

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 starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life