Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

• A superb victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, 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 nose section

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

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life