Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar 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 first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the back

At the start, 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 Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

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

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life