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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate 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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Max had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak continued as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place following starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly 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 stopped five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three 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 run the remainder of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a circuit, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

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

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to qualify 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 first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his career