Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert 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 opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to praise Max 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 prestigious races were:

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just attempt to put 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 position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life