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

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

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

The Briton will win the title in the desert as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 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 good race. I made the mistake at the beginning and was too punchy on that first turn," said Norris

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

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

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

• Lando Norris maintained his momentum towards the title despite the victory to Max Verstappen

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

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

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

However following an forceful cut in front of the Red Bull driver to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Verstappen to overtake into the lead while Norris lost second place to George Russell

During two VSC periods for some early incidents, including at the start when Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson collided with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

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

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

The Red Bull driver was could rejoin still in the first place, Russell having been unable to close in on the Red Bull despite his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined behind Russell from his pit stop but after a several careful circuits to let his tires to warm up, soon reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his engineer how to manage the remainder of his event, essentially questioning whether he should settle for second place or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could defend against Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car began to experience a mechanical problem which has so far not been defined

Even with losing almost three seconds a circuit, Lando Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - only one behind both McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at minimum theoretically, although he needs issues for Lando Norris in both remaining races to pass him

"It's still a significant margin, we always try to maximise everything we've have," Max Verstappen said

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

Oscar Piastri started in fifth but dropped two places on the first circuit after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a damaged front wing

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

The Australian ended up after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the entire race on the durable compound after pitting during the initial VSC, but was awarded a five-second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in some ways," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if circumstances change"

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

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, up to thirteenth on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a bunch of additional vehicles but was could use his strong beginning to salvage a point after the worst qualifying session of his racing life