Norris Edges Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place behind Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

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

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

"Verstappen had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and Red Bull"

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

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

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

• Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his advantage from starting first from Max Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris lost second place to George Russell

Through two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the race

Russell made an early tire change for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

Norris stopped five laps after the Mercedes driver and Verstappen 10

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

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren began to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen said

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was soon taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

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

Piastri ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on the durable compound after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

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

Questioned about how he would tackle the final two races, he said: "Simply try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously need quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth place, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the finish, his Williams car lacking the speed to challenge with the top teams in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, rising to 13th on the first lap 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 rescue a point following the poorest qualifying performance of his career