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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a 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 fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked 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 told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion 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 opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive performance to start third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life