Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose 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 consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

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

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods 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

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life