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

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three 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's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to 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 championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

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

Piastri started fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career