Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved 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 the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure the title 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 season, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the championship takes place in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult run of form continued as his title hopes diminish

• A superb win for Max Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the rear

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

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking zone and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver also the runner-up spot to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the event

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

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

Verstappen was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver inquired his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, effectively asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap increased substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing nearly three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

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

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up 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 penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet

Isack Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was could use his electric start to rescue a championship point following the worst qualifying session of his career