Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

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

Norris will win the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish 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 first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

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

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life