Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Las Vegas F1 Race Win

The McLaren Lando Norris moved closer to a maiden world title with second place in the Vegas race following the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the championship in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

Piastri, so strong in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a strong performance. I erred at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that first turn," said Norris

"It remains a positive outcome to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

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

• A excellent victory for Verstappen to maintain him in the title fight

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

At the start, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from starting first from Verstappen

But following an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Dutchman's attack on the inside, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

This allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while the British driver also the runner-up spot to Russell

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson made contact with Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually stamped his authority on the race

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

Norris pitted five laps after the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen 10

Verstappen was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris returned behind George Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tyres to settle, soon reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should accept second or attack

He was instructed to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the closing stages the gap increased substantially as the McLaren started to suffer a technical issue which has thus far not been defined

Despite dropping nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth win of the championship - only one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It's still a significant margin, we consistently attempt to maximise everything we've got," Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Liam Lawson, who was soon taken out of the battle by a broken front wing

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

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

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

Asked about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to take the title, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth position, insufficiently close to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, after his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton

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

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of additional vehicles but was able to use his electric start to salvage a point following the poorest qualifying session of his racing life