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

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

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

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

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

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

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

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career