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

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

The British driver currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will claim the championship in the desert as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has not finished on the top three for six races

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

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

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

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

• Norris maintained his progress towards the championship losing the win to Max Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak continued as his title hopes wane

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

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

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Max Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Max Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris also second place to Russell

Through two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the event

George Russell undertook an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Norris and Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver 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

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

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

He was instructed to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin increased significantly as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Even with dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to hold off Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It remains a big gap, we always try to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try to take victory in the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit following being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly eliminated of contention by a damaged nose section

He followed Liam Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Strip but lost out to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

"It proved to be a disappointing race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Piastri told race broadcasters

Asked about how he would tackle the final two races, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Leclerc held on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive showing to start in third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis 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 bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his racing life