Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Verstappen Claims Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the title in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a good race. 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 praise Max and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the season follows in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, after a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for tenth place after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Verstappen

However following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

This enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris lost second place to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five laps following the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed 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 asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing 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, up to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life