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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship 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 Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after starting at the rear

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

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

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

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to suffer a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends 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 the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on hard tyres following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped 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 start in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his career