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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

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

Piastri, so impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Norris continued his momentum towards the championship losing the win to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off Russell because of the extent of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to optimize all we've have," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap following being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

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

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating event 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 commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify third in the wet

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

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

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career