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

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish 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," said Norris

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

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

However following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated 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 out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

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 flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career