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

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, 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 good result to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the win to Max Verstappen

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

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to optimize all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by 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 able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in certain respects," Piastri told race broadcasters

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

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and 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 bunch of other cars but was could employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life