Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Las Vegas Grand Prix behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will secure the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

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

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

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the championship battle

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after starting at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

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

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen remained on track

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

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

Norris returned after George Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

The British driver inquired his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far remained unidentified

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

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - only one behind both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at minimum mathematically, although he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max 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 fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could overtake again during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of factors to favor me now 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 penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his heroic performance to qualify third in the wet weather

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

The seven-time title winner executed a flying start, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded 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 after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life