Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

Norris will secure 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 impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and his team"

Following 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 were:

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

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

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following starting at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's teammate 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

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event 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 clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of factors to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life