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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium 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 positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

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

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

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

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career