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

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton 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

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

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

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his momentum towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his championship chances wane

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was true to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from pole position from Verstappen

But after an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inside, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

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

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

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando 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 failed to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes driver and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or attack

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Lando's challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Even with dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires 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," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the event and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm extremely pleased of everyone"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two places on the opening lap following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but also out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the whole event on hard tyres after pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It was a frustrating event from pretty much start to finish in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Simply try to put myself in the best position I can. I clearly need quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc hung on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car lacking the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar took eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a flying start, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying session of his career