Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished 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 first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

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

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career