Norris Advances Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

After Qatar, the final race of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

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

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

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver lost second place to Russell

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

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've got," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the tire change phase

Piastri finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life