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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure 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 opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

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

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost 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 clearly visible on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career