Norris Advances Closer to Title as Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

The Briton will claim the title 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 impressive in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the championship losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver also 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 Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits after the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to manage the rest of his race, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he requires issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

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

The Australian ended up after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th 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 strong beginning to salvage a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life