Norris Moves Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Victory

McLaren's Lando Norris moved nearer to a maiden championship with second place in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points heading to 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

Piastri, so strong in the first half of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

The key stories of among Formula 1's most prestigious races were:

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

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

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

• Recoveries for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place following starting at the back

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

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

That enabled Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while Norris also the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

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

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris returned after Russell from his stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into runner-up position on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, effectively asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - only one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in both remaining races to pass him

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

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Liam Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the tire change phase

Piastri ended up behind the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially start to finish in some ways," Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me at this stage to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's time penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh place at the flag, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry, after his heroic performance to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

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