Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

After Qatar, the last event of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th following starting at the back

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life