The twenty-four-year-old British driver Lando Norris won the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, behind him was the defending champion, three-time world champion Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver of Red Bull, who finished second, and Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver of Monaco, could have been on the third place of the podium this time, writes the MTI.
Verstappen, who started from pole position, got off to an excellent start and was the first to turn, but Leclerc, who initially stopped a little, was attacked by several people, including the other Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez, he missed the first braking distance and then slid off the ideal curve. Oscar Piastri, also driving a McLaren racing car, took advantage of the situation and climbed to third place. After one lap, Verstappen, Leclerc and Piastri were the top three, fourth was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari), and fifth was Pérez.
In the fifth lap, Piastri overtook Leclerc, whose teammate Sainz, who was chasing him, also seemed to be faster, as the Spanish driver reported on the radio. Later, Leclerc was the first from the front to drive into the pits on the twentieth lap to change a wheel, and four laps later Verstappen followed him from the front.
On the 28th lap, Piastri and Sainz asked for new tires at the same time, then the safety car drove onto the track due to the accident of Kevin Magnussen and the home driver Logan Sargeant. This came in very handy for Norris, who started from fifth place, and was driving in the lead due to the tire changes of his rivals. With the British pilot’s wheel change, McLaren waited until then, trusting in a safety car phase. Taking advantage of the fact that he can change tires with less loss of time during the safety car phase, Norris drove to the pit lane for fresh tires on the 30th lap, and then returned to the track in first place.
At the restart, Norris kept the leading position, Verstappen raced behind him in second place, and Leclerc in third place. The defending Dutch champion did not have much of a chance to catch up with his leading British rival, as his car was struggling with balance problems, which made it difficult for him in the corners.
With ten laps to go, Norris’ lead over Verstappen was five seconds, which increased to almost eight seconds by the end of the race, giving the British driver a well-deserved victory for the first time in his F1 career. 24-year-old Lando Norris has been on the podium fifteen times in Formula 1 without a win, which is a record.
Max Verstappen (136 points) still leads the world championship points race with a big advantage, 35 points, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez (101 points). They are followed by the two Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc (98 points) and Carlos Sainz (85 points) in third and fourth place. Lando Norris (83 points) is still in fifth place, but with his victory he almost overtook Sainz. The next round of the World Championship will be held in Imola in two weeks.