Norris Advances Nearer to Championship as Verstappen Takes Vegas F1 Race Win

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

The British driver now leads teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, by thirty points heading to the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend

Norris will win the championship in the Qatar as long as he doesn't surrender over five points to Piastri in Losail, or 17 to Verstappen

The Australian driver, so impressive in the opening stages of the championship, has failed to finish on the podium for six consecutive events

"Verstappen had a strong performance. I erred early on and was too punchy on that opening corner," said Norris

"It's still a positive outcome to get second. I've got to praise Max and his team"

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

The key stories of among Formula 1's most high-profile races included:

• Lando Norris maintained his progress towards the title losing the win to Verstappen

• Piastri's difficult performance streak persisted as his championship chances diminish

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

• Recoveries for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a single point for 10th after beginning at the back

From the beginning, Lando Norris was faithful to his claim that he was "not present not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to protect his lead from starting first from Verstappen

However after an aggressive move in front of Verstappen to block the Verstappen's attack on the inner line, Norris miscalculated his braking point and ran deep into the turn

That allowed Max Verstappen to drive past into the lead while the British driver lost second place to George Russell

During two virtual safety cars for some early incidents, including at the start when the Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made contact with Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen gradually established dominance on the event

Russell undertook an early tire change for the hard tyres, but Norris and Max Verstappen remained on track

The McLaren driver stopped five circuits following the Mercedes and Verstappen 10

The Red Bull driver was able to return still in the lead, Russell having been failed to catch up on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Lando Norris rejoined after Russell from his pit stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tyres to warm up, quickly closed his three-point-three second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into runner-up position on lap 34

Norris inquired his race engineer how to run the remainder of his event, essentially asking whether he should accept second or challenge for the lead

He was told to "chase down Verstappen" but it soon became clear he had no chance. Max Verstappen was easily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the gap extended significantly as the McLaren car began to suffer a technical issue which has so far not been defined

Despite dropping almost three seconds a lap, Lando Norris was able to defend against Russell because of the size of the advantage he had built while pursuing Verstappen

The Red Bull driver's sixth victory of the season - just one less than the two McLaren drivers - was taken in dominant fashion and keeps him in championship contention, at minimum theoretically, even if he requires issues for Norris in both remaining races to overtake him

"It remains a significant margin, we always try to maximise all we've have," Max Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will attempt to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will know where we finish, but I'm very proud of the entire team"

Piastri started fifth but dropped two positions on the first circuit after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was quickly taken out of the battle by a damaged nose section

He trailed Liam 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 able to repass during the tire change phase

The Australian finished after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who ran nearly the whole event on the durable compound 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 replays

"It was a frustrating race from essentially beginning to end in certain respects," Oscar Piastri told BBC Radio 5 Live

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he said: "Just attempt to position myself in the optimal situation I can. I obviously require several of factors to go my way at this stage to win, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the best position to take advantage if circumstances change"

Charles Leclerc held on in sixth place, not close enough to benefit from Antonelli's penalty, while Sainz fell to seventh at the flag, his Williams missing the speed to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his heroic showing to qualify in third in the wet

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

The seven-time champion executed a strong getaway, rising to thirteenth on the first lap and proceeded to advance positions

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 poorest qualifying performance of his career