Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming 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 championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

The main developments of among Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

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

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max 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 stamped his authority on the event

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

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win 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 lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life