Norris Edges Closer to Championship as Max Verstappen Secures Las Vegas F1 Race Victory

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

Norris currently heads fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who finished in fourth place after the Mercedes of George Russell, by 30 points going into the second-to-last race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will secure 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 impressive in the opening stages of the season, has failed to finish on the podium for six races

"Max had a good race. I made the mistake early on and was too punchy on that first turn," stated Norris

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

Following 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 included:

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

• Piastri's challenging performance streak persisted as his title hopes diminish

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

• Fightbacks for both Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying session, with Lewis Hamilton securing a single point for tenth place following beginning at the rear

From the beginning, 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

However after an aggressive cut in front of the Red Bull driver to block the Verstappen's challenge on the inside, the McLaren driver misjudged his braking point and ran deep into the turn

This allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the first place while Norris also 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 gradually established dominance on the race

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

The McLaren driver pitted five circuits following the Mercedes driver and Max Verstappen ten laps later

Verstappen was could return still in the first place, George Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his fresher tyres

Norris rejoined after George Russell from his stop but following a several careful circuits to allow his tires to settle, quickly reduced his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes driver and overtook into second place on lap 34

The British driver asked his race engineer how to run the rest of his race, essentially asking whether he should accept second place or attack

He was told to "chase down Max" but it quickly became apparent he had no chance. Verstappen was easily able to repel Norris' attacks, and in the final laps the gap extended substantially as the McLaren car started to suffer a mechanical problem which has thus far remained unidentified

Despite dropping almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was able to hold off George Russell because of the size of the advantage he had established while chasing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth win of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was achieved in dominant fashion and maintains him in title contention, at least mathematically, even if he requires problems for Norris in the final two events to overtake him

"It remains a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've have," Verstappen stated

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

Oscar Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Lawson, who was quickly taken out of contention by a broken front wing

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

Piastri finished behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the entire race on hard tyres following stopping during the first virtual safety car, but was awarded a five second penalty for a start-line violation, which was not clearly visible on video reviews

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

Asked about how he would approach the final two races, he commented: "Simply attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I clearly require quite a lot of things to favor me now to take the title, but my only option is make myself in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to gain from Kimi Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz dropped to seventh at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to challenge with the leading outfits in the dry conditions, after his impressive performance to start third in the wet

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

The seven-time title winner made a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and continued to advance positions

He became trapped in a DRS train with a bunch of other cars but was able to use his strong beginning to rescue a championship point after the poorest qualifying performance of his racing life