Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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:

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after starting at the rear

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

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

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in 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 began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also out to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me now to take the title, 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, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career