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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his championship chances diminish

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

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

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life