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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome 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 prestigious races included:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

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

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken nose section

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

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career