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

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

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

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need several of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career