Lando Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following starting at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told 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 factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life