Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a good result to secure second place. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

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

The key stories of among Formula 1's most prestigious races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

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

• A superb victory for Verstappen to keep him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th following starting 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 protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires issues for 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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of factors to go my way at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time 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, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life