Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the Qatar 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 season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the championship losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following starting at the rear

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

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

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

George 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 following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least 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 optimize everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

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

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps 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 ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life