Lando Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Max Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

The British driver currently heads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth after Mercedes' George Russell, by thirty points heading to the second-to-last race in Qatar this coming weekend

Norris will win the title in the desert as long as he does not lose over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so strong in the first half of the championship, has failed to finish on the top three for six consecutive events

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was overly aggressive on that opening corner," stated Norris

"It's still a good result to get second place. I've got to praise Verstappen and his team"

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

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

• Lando Norris continued his progress towards the championship despite the victory to Verstappen

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

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

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

From the beginning, Norris was true to his claim that he was "not here to avoid risks" as he fought hard to protect his advantage from pole position 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, the McLaren driver miscalculated his braking zone and ran deep into the corner

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

Through two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, featuring at the beginning when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Verstappen slowly established dominance on the race

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

Norris pitted five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been unable to catch up on the Red Bull car even with his fresher tyres

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tyres to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second gap to the Mercedes and swept by into runner-up position on lap 34

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

He was told to "go and get Max" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was readily able to repel Lando's attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren started to experience a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite losing nearly three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was could defend against George Russell because of the size of the lead he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

The Verstappen's sixth victory of the season - only one less than both McLaren teammates - was taken in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he needs issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to optimize everything we've got," Max Verstappen stated

"During the coming events we will attempt to take victory in the race and by the conclusion of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri began fifth but lost two places on the opening lap after being clouted by Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He followed Lawson's team-mate Isack Hadjar for the opening fifteen circuits before passing him on the Strip but lost position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the pit-stop period

Piastri ended up after 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 penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on replays

"It proved to be a disappointing event from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Piastri informed race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would approach the final two races, he said: "Just try to position myself in the best position I can. I obviously need several of things to go my way at this stage to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the best position to take advantage if something happens"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the top teams in the dry conditions, following his heroic showing to qualify third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a flying start, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to move forwards

He got stuck in a DRS train with a group of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to salvage a point following the worst qualifying session of his racing life