Norris Moves Closer to Title as Max Verstappen Secures Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race following Red Bull's Max Verstappen

Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

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

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to secure second. I've got to praise Max and his team"

Following Qatar, the last event of the season takes place in Abu Dhabi on 7 December

The key stories of one of Formula 1's most high-profile races were:

• Norris continued his progress towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's difficult run of form persisted as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for tenth place after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he fought hard to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

But after an aggressive move in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the first place while the British driver lost 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 slowly stamped his authority on the race

George Russell made an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Lando Norris and Verstappen stayed out

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, George Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull car despite his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but after a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, soon closed his three-point-three second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the margin extended significantly as the McLaren began to suffer a technical issue which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Norris was able to defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had built while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the championship - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in championship contention, at least theoretically, although he needs issues for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to optimize all we've have," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will try to win the event and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of everyone"

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken front wing

He followed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits 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 ran almost the entire race on hard tyres after pitting during the first virtual safety car, but was given a five-second penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not clearly visible on replays

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

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of factors to go my way now to win, but my only option is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to take advantage if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams car missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to start in third in the wet

Isack Hadjar took eighth place ahead of Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point after the poorest qualifying session of his racing life