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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship despite the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

• A superb victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've got," Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle 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 also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, 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 beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his strong beginning to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career