Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

Following 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:

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following starting at the rear

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

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've have," Verstappen said

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

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

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"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 approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career