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

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next 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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen 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 high-profile races included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes wane

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

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

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max 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 extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option 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 Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life