Lando Norris Moves Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise 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 high-profile races were:

• Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

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

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

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, soon closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his career