Norris Moves Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to his first world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

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

"Max had a good race. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to congratulate Max and Red Bull"

Following Qatar, the final race of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

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

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

But following an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while the British driver lost second place to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Max Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was could return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his event, effectively questioning whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize everything we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event 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 Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged front wing

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

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much beginning to end in some ways," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, 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 all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, following his heroic performance to start in third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, rising to 13th on the opening circuit and continued to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to employ his strong beginning to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying session of his career