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

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender 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 not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

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

• A excellent win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He followed 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 overtake again during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his career