Norris Moves Closer to Title as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden 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 ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

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

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the rear

At the start, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of things 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 hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th 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 employ his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying session of his career