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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

Following Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

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

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

Russell undertook an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will try to win the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

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

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career