Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second place. 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 among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

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

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

• A superb win for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

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

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

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

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career