Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

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

After Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"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"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken nose section

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

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life