Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still 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 by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

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

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his career