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

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

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

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

• Norris continued his progress towards the title losing the victory to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes diminish

• A excellent win for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after beginning at the rear

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

However after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

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

Norris rejoined behind George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - only one less than both McLaren drivers - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri began in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound after stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of things to favor me now to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point following the worst qualifying performance of his career