Lando Norris drops F-bomb as he admits to key Las Vegas GP error

Lando Norris has admitted he messed up the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver finished second behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Sin City to move closer to move closer to winning his first world title.

Norris aggressively cut in front of Verstappen to defend his lead into the first corner, but misjudged his braking point and ran deep, enabling both Verstappen and Mercedes' George Russell to sweep past.

Four-time world champion went on to claim a dominant victory, 20 seconds clear of Norris who recovered to second. 

"I let Max have a win,” Norris joked. “I let him go, let him have a nice race! No, I just braked too late - it was my f*** up.

"It was not my best performance out there but when the guy wins by 20 seconds it's because he has just done a better job and they're a bit quicker.

"Fun race out there, difficult as always, but good fun.”

Norris added: “I’ve had a good run, I think the pace was still good today, Max just drove a good race today.

“They were quick, I made the mistake in Turn 1. You’ve got to be punchy into Turn 1, I was just a bit too punchy and that cost me. That’s the way it is sometimes and second is still a good result.

“Still good points so it’s not like I’m too disappointed. I’ve got to congratulate Max and Red Bull, they drove a good race so onto the next one.”

Norris in full control of title destiny

Norris has extended his championship lead over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth, to 30 points heading into the final two rounds of the season.

The result means Norris will win the championship at the penultimate race in Qatar as long as he is not outscored by more than five points by Piastri, or loses 17 to Verstappen, who has just about kept himself in the hunt.

Norris has a comfortable buffer and momentum on his side while Piastri’s difficult run of form continued in Las Vegas.