Lando Norris Edges Nearer to Title as Verstappen Claims Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who ended up fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by 30 points going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

The Briton will claim the title in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender more than five points to Piastri in Losail, or seventeen to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has not finished on the podium for six races

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I made the mistake at the beginning and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It remains a good result to get second. I've got to congratulate Verstappen and his team"

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

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

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his championship chances diminish

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, after a difficult qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following beginning at the rear

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

But following an forceful cut in front of Verstappen to head off the Dutchman's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and went too deep into the corner

That enabled Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost the runner-up spot to Russell

During two VSC periods for several opening-lap incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson collided with Piastri, Max Verstappen slowly stamped his authority on the event

George Russell made an early pit stop for the more durable compound, but Lando Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

Norris stopped five laps following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to settle, quickly closed his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes driver and swept by into second place on lap 34

Norris asked his race engineer how to manage the rest of his event, essentially asking whether he should settle for second or challenge for the lead

He was instructed to "chase down Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to experience a mechanical problem which has thus far not been defined

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

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren teammates - was taken in emphatic style and keeps him in title contention, at minimum mathematically, although he needs problems for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a big gap, we always try to maximise all we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"In upcoming weekends we will attempt to take victory in the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up, but I'm extremely pleased of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two places on the opening lap following being hit by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of the battle by a damaged front wing

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before overtaking him on the Strip but lost position to Leclerc, who he was able to repass during the pit-stop period

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed almost the whole event on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a starting procedure infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri informed BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would approach the remaining events, he commented: "Just try to put myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalise if circumstances change"

Leclerc hung on in sixth place, insufficiently close to gain from Antonelli's penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh place at the finish, his Williams missing the pace to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to start third in the wet weather

Hadjar secured eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

He became trapped in a slipstream group with a group of additional vehicles but was able to employ his electric start to rescue a point following the worst qualifying session of his career