Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

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

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life