Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

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

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require 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 something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life