Norris Advances Nearer to Title as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

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

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

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

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

After 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:

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

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes wane

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not present to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

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

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's challenges, and in the closing stages the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while pursuing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at least theoretically, even if he needs issues for Lando Norris in the final two events to pass him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we end up, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the first circuit following being hit by Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on the durable compound following pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth place before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a championship point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life