Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

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

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life