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

The McLaren Lando Norris stepped closer to a maiden world title with runner-up position in the Vegas race behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen

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

The Briton will win 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 impressive in the first half of the season, has not finished on the top three for six consecutive events

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

"It remains a good result to secure second. I've got to praise Verstappen 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 included:

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

• Oscar Piastri's challenging run of form continued as his title hopes wane

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

• Fightbacks for the two Ferrari drivers, following a tough qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton claiming a point for 10th following starting at the back

At the start, Norris was faithful to his statement that he was "not here not to take risks" as he battled aggressively to defend his advantage from pole position from Max Verstappen

But following an forceful move in front of Verstappen to head off the Verstappen's challenge on the inner line, Norris misjudged his braking point and went too deep into the turn

This enabled Verstappen to overtake into the first place while Norris lost the runner-up spot to Russell

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

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

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

Verstappen was able to rejoin still in the lead, Russell having been failed to close in on the Red Bull even with his newer rubber

Norris rejoined behind Russell from his stop but following a few cautious laps to let his tires to warm up, quickly closed his 3.3-second deficit to the Mercedes and overtook into second place on the thirty-fourth lap

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

He was instructed to "go and get Verstappen" but it quickly became apparent he had little opportunity. Max Verstappen was readily could repel Norris' challenges, and in the final laps the margin extended significantly as the McLaren car started to experience a technical issue which has so far remained unidentified

Despite losing almost three seconds a circuit, Norris was could defend against Russell because of the extent of the advantage he had established while chasing Max Verstappen

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

"It's still a big gap, we consistently attempt to maximise all we've got," Verstappen said

"During the coming events we will try 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 everyone"

Oscar Piastri began in fifth but lost two positions on the opening lap after being hit by Liam Lawson, who was soon eliminated of contention by a broken nose section

He trailed Lawson's teammate Isack Hadjar for the first 15 laps before overtaking him on the Strip but also position to Charles Leclerc, who he was could repass during the tire change phase

Piastri finished after the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, who competed nearly the whole event on hard tyres following pitting during the initial VSC, but was given a five-second time penalty for a start-line infringement, which was not immediately obvious on video reviews

"It was a frustrating event from essentially start to finish in some ways," Oscar Piastri told race broadcasters

Questioned about how he would tackle the remaining events, he commented: "Simply attempt to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously require quite a lot of factors to favor me now to take the title, but all I can do is ensure I'm in the ideal situation to capitalise if something happens"

Leclerc hung on in sixth position, not close enough to benefit from Kimi Antonelli's time penalty, while Carlos Sainz fell to seventh place at the finish, his Williams lacking the pace to compete with the leading outfits in the dry, following his impressive showing to start third in the wet weather

Isack Hadjar secured eighth before the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and Hamilton

The seven-time champion made a strong getaway, up to 13th on the opening circuit and proceeded to advance positions

He got stuck in a slipstream group with a group of other cars but was able to employ his strong beginning to rescue a point after the worst qualifying performance of his career