Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive 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 early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career