Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

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

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

The key stories of among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

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

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

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

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life