Norris Advances Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first championship with second place in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender 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 strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second. I've got to congratulate Max and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

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

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his lead from pole position from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to defend against Norris' attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise all 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 extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri began in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Simply try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, 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 could use his electric start to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life