Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention 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 also out to Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career