Lando Norris Edges Closer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish 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," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

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

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to warm up, quickly 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 manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt 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 started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career