Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

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

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career