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

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 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 strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second place. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place 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 difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a point for 10th after starting at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars 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 race

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

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the lead, George Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially questioning 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 easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps 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 have," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just attempt to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a strong getaway, rising to 13th on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his career