Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose 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 early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

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

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

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

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to start in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

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