Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship 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 momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

• A excellent win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

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

However after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

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