Lando Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

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

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

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship follows 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 victory to Verstappen

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

• A superb victory for 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 tenth place following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take 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 inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell made an early pit stop 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 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he requires problems for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying session of his career