Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 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 doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following starting at the back

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

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

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

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start 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 strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career