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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next 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 strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several 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 something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career