Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than 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

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

• A superb win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career