Norris Edges Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen 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 high-profile races were:

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris stopped five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly 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 out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require several of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles 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 finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career