Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

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

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

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

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

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

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

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life