Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

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

Norris will secure the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for tenth place after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

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

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, 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

Even with dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

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

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to favor me now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career