Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six races

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

"It remains a good result to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

After 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 momentum towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

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

• A excellent victory for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

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

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

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

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando 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 return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended substantially as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event 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: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life