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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to his first championship with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to keep him in the championship battle

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

Norris pitted five circuits after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively questioning whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate 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

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life