Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship 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 ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

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

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after beginning at the back

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, George 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 after a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career