Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

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

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, 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 maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

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

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career