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

The McLaren Lando Norris moved nearer to his first world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who ended up in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he does not lose more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six races

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his statement 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 forceful move in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's challenge on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also second place to George Russell

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

Russell undertook an early pit stop for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen stayed out

The McLaren driver pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

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

Norris returned after Russell from his pit stop but following a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, soon reduced his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

Norris inquired his race engineer how to manage the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should settle for second place or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the closing stages the margin increased substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the championship - just one behind the two McLaren teammates - was achieved in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at least theoretically, although he needs problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the first circuit after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

He trailed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before passing him on the Las Vegas Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was able to overtake again during the pit-stop period

The Australian ended up behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran almost the entire race on the durable compound after stopping during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second penalty for a starting procedure violation, which was not clearly visible 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 approach the final two races, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly need several of things to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive performance to qualify third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to salvage a point following the worst qualifying performance of his racing life