Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix LIVE: Flawless Verstappen wins in Sin City while Oscar Piastri settles for fourth
Australian Oscar Piastri conceded his dream of winning this year’s drivers’ championship is slipping away after his teammate Lando Norris extended his advantage in their rivalry by finishing second in Las Vegas.
Mathematically, Piastri could still win the title by winning both remaining races – Qatar and ABu Dhabi – and netting 50 points, but Norris would have to stumble badly in both those races.
Piastri has not won since the final day of August at the Dutch Grand Prix and has just one podium finish in the seven races since. He seemed to accept that his title chances are slipping away.
“I don’t really know what to think, to be honest. The first lap was eventful, to say the least,” Piastri said.
“It is what it is. I think I’m going to try my best, obviously, for the next two races and try to put myself in the best position possible. There’s still a lot of laps left to go, a lot can still happen, but I need to make sure that I’m in the best position to capitalise if that happens.
“That’s all I can do now, so I’ll set my sights on that and see how we go.”
Piastri told the post-race broadcast his McLaren was “wuick in clean air”, but said he spent too long stuck behind other drivers, in particular AK Antonelli’s Mercedes.
“From start to finish, it felt like there was tough moments in the race,” he said.
Perhaps the more pertinent question for Piastri at this stage of the season is whether he can hold off the fast-finishing Max Verstappen to hold onto his second place in the drivers’ standings. The gap between them is now down to 12 points, and the Dutchman, the reigning four-time champion, is finishing the season strongly.
