Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship 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 impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy 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 last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful 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 aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

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

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

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

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life