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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains 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 among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly 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 stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career