Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

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

At the start, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However following an aggressive cut in front of Verstappen to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the turn

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

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, featuring at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

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 "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the gap increased significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, although he requires issues 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

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

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

The Australian finished behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I clearly require several of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic performance to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life