Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim 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 first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

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

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

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Norris maintained his progress towards the title despite the victory to Verstappen

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

• A superb victory for Max Verstappen to keep 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 beginning at the rear

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen ten laps later

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of things to go my way now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

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