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

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship 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 impressive in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

At the start, 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 Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

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

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

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

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

Lando Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

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

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

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

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close 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 top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his career