Lando Norris has taken his first victory in Formula 1. He won F1 in Miami – after a smart strategy, good driving.
And a bit of luck.
– Lando really deserves this, it was not his last victory, says Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull, took the start of the F1 in Miami and he also had the lead of the race. He had been in the pits when Kevin Magnussen, Haas, and Logan Sargeant, Williams collided on lap 29.
That caused the safety car to come out on the track – and then McLaren took the chance.
Lando Norris, McLarenwho started from position five went into the pits, gained time by making the stop under the safety car and he also took the lead of the race.
He then defended the lead in the restart – and pulled away from Max Verstappen, who complained several times that the car was undriveable.
– I felt it this morning, I said it was a day full of possibilities, says an overjoyed Lando Norris to the team after the race.
He was extremely happy after his first victory and had difficulty putting his feelings and thoughts into words.
– The whole weekend has been good, we had some small problems, but it has been okay. I already knew on Friday that the car was good, then there has been a bit of trouble, but today we got it together, says Lando Norris, who took his first victory after 109 races.
– Fantastic.
Lando Norris has taken his first victory (AP-TT)
Lando Norris van F1 Miami
McLaren brought an update for this weekend, Norris got the full update package. His colleague Oscar Piastri received 50 percent of the update. It was, just like last year, a positive move for Norris.
When McLaren gave Norris an upgrade for the 2023 Austrian GP, it paid off handsomely. It was the start of McLaren’s fine summer and autumn which enabled the team to compete for podium places race after race. But that time Lando Norris never managed to win an F1 race.
That victory came during F1 in Miami, during the sixth race of F1 2024.
– If we look at the last twelve-month period, we have developed the car more than anyone else. I don’t think Red Bull updated that much last year. It’s clear they were working in the background because they already had such an innovative car, it takes a long time to develop such an innovative bil, Andrea Stella told motorsport.com ahead of the weekend.
– Therefore, we have to look at this over a longer period. Over a long period of time, we have a strong trend, so that’s what I said before, if we can keep this development trend, why not. We can reach Red Bull.
It didn’t take many days before he was right. After the sixth race of the year, there are two other teams that have won the GP race, alongside Red Bull. That’s more than we had in F1 2023.
The result then? Max Verstappen finished second in his Red Bull and Charles Leclerc, Ferrari third. Result F1 in Miami.
Verstappen, who won the sprint on Saturday, still leads the WC.
Right now Formula 1 break for a weekend before the championship moves to Europe.
•••
Note that this is McLaren’s second win in twelve years. The last one came in 2021. The winner was then Daniel Ricciardo.
Alpine took their first point for the year and the Racing Bulls took points in both sprint and GP.
And that Kevin Magnussen received additional penalty points on his license. Now he has eleven. At twelve, he is stopped by a race.