Lando Norris Advances Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen

The British driver now leads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the podium for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

After Qatar, the final race of the championship follows in Abu Dhabi on December 7th

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

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the victory to Verstappen

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th after starting at the rear

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

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also second place to Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

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

Norris returned behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his engineer how to run the remainder of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended substantially as the McLaren began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken nose section

He trailed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

The Australian ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet

Hadjar took eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life