Lando Norris Silences Doubters for First Formula 1 Grand Prix Victory

Race winner Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren, Second placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing and Third placed Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari celebrate on the podium after the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 05, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

MIAMI — Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen swept the Friday sessions along with the Sprint Race and claimed the pole position on Saturday ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. However, strong showings from Lando Norris at McLaren and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari showed there could be a chance of a close battle for victory by the time the checkered flag flew.

As the grid formed up for pre-race festivities, the only change from how qualifying ended to how the Formula 1 grid would start was Daniel Ricciardo’s Visa Cash App RB, who served the three-place grid penalty he received after making a pass during the Safety Car during the Chinese Grand Prix. He was slated to start 18th, but the penalty dropped him to 20th and last.

Soon, the call for the tire covers to be removed came, and the first chance was to see what pit strategies would be expected to play out. As expected, a majority of the grid elected to start for the expected one-stop event on the Medium Compound tires, while Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Ricciardo started on the Hard compound tires. As a surprise, Kick Sauber elected to start Valtteri Bottas on the Soft compound tires.

Soon, Verstappen set out and led the field around for the formation lap and returned to the grid to wait out for the race to begin.

The lights went out, and while the lead Red Bull had no issues pulling away, a slow-starting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc started to stack things up, and a fast-approaching Red Bull of Sergio Perez made a lunge to get second but misjudged his speed and almost went sliding into his teammate Verstappen.

While Perez went out wide, Oscar Piastri’s McLaren snuck past Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and claimed third. He set his sights on Leclerc and Verstappen ahead of him. As the opening lap continued, both Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were going at it in wheel-to-wheel action that came close to disaster, while Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas had made up a place on Hamilton.

Soon, Piastri was at Leclerc’s gearbox, and in the DRS zone between Turns 16 and 17, he made the pass for second and got to work on keeping Verstappen in his sights. Meanwhile, his teammate, Norris, was working on trying to get past Perez. Further back, Hamilton was finally starting to show speed with his Hard tires and made his first few attempts, save for a few close calls, getting around Hulkenberg, but soon both he and his teammate, Russell, were able to get past the Haas.

As the race moved into double digits in terms of laps completed, the first round of pit stops began as the backmarkers made the change to the Hard compound tires. But up front, it was to see who would be the first to blink. On Lap 18, it was Perez who was called into the pits for a particularly fast stop that released Norris to make up some time in some fresh air.

Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes leads Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 05, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Ferrari quickly called in Leclerc to cover off Perez with their own equally fast stop to put pressure on Piastri ahead. But around the same moment as that was happening, Verstappen, who was cruising along ahead, had a close-call moment going through Turns 14 and 15, cutting the chicane and making contact with the bollard, causing some worry of damage.

The bollard soon made its way down the track, and with it sticking too close to the racing line, the race stewards determined to call upon the Virtual Safety Car to have the debris picked up. With the VSC deployed, Ocon, Alonso and Kevin Magnussen’s Haas all took the “cheap” pit stop to avoid losing too much time in the pits.

Almost as soon as it was deployed, the VSC was rescinded, and the race got back underway. Almost immediately, Red Bull called Verstappen into the pits for his swap to the Hard tires, with Piastri and Sainz out front and a hard-charging Norris making impressive gains.

A couple of laps later, McLaren and Ferrari called Piastri and Sainz in, leaving Norris out front with Verstappen having some ground to make up before the McLaren would have to make his pitstop. However, what McLaren was hoping for would be a SC and a chance at a cheap pit stop for track position and they would soon get it.

Shortly, yellow flags started to wave, and the full SC was deployed as the TV cameras turned to show Magnussen and the Williams of Logan Sargeant off-track. Replays showed Magnussen and Sargeant getting into each other and going off into the runoff, landing Magnussen yet another 10-second time penalty for the weekend and ending the race early for Sargeant, who was hoping for a good race at his home track.

The SC came out at the perfect time for Norris and McLaren as they were able to take a pit stop with minimal time lost and rejoined the track as the leader still. It meant that instead of having to attempt to chase down Leclerc and Verstappen, he would be able to lead them instead.

Race winner Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren celebrates with Daniel Ricciardo of Australia and Visa Cash App RB in parc ferme after the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 05, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Also during the SC, the three remaining drivers who had yet to take their pit stop, Visa Cash App RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Ricciardo, plus the Kick Sauber Zhou Guanyu, went down the pits while Perez took the chance to get a second pit stop.

As the field finally bunched back together and the debris cleared, the SC was called back in, and Norris led Verstappen and Leclerc back to racing on Lap 32. In the first sector, Verstappen tried to regain the lead, but through the rest of the lap, Norris was able to hold his ground, start growing an advantage, and set sail to obtain his first Grand Prix victory to silence the doubters.

Further back, Piastri and Sainz were starting to fight for positions, which included calls from Ferrari to penalize the McLaren. They came close to disaster in Turn 17, which saw Piastri go away with a broken front wing, effectively ruining his race. That move gave the stewards a reason to investigate after the race and determined to give Sainz a 5-second penalty while Piastri had to work his way back up the order as far as he could go.

As the laps wound down and with an ever-growing lead, Norris patiently waited for the checkered flag. At the conclusion of lap 57, he crossed the line to claim his first career victory in his 110th career start, ahead of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to close out the podium.

Lando Norris (4) jumps into the arms of his McLaren F1 team following his maiden Formula 1 Grand Prix victory at the Miami International Autodrome for the 2024 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix (Source: McLaren F1 on X)

While Carlos Sainz had crossed the line in fourth, his time penalty demoted him behind Perez, rounding out the Top five. Tsunoda was surrounded by the Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell for sixth through eighth, while Alonso and Ocon rounded out the Top 10 and points-paying finishes. Ocon’s 10th place meant Alpine’s first points-scoring finish in 2024.

Just outside the points came Hulkenberg ahead of Gasly, while Piastri had to settle for 13th, ahead of Guanyu and Ricciardo. Bottas, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and Alex Albon’s Williams finished ahead of Magnussen, rounding out the runners at the finish. Logan Sargeant was the only driver who did not finish.

The journey for McLaren and Norris from just a year ago has been impressive. From finishing almost a minute and a half behind Verstappen in 2023 to finishing close to seven and a half seconds ahead of him in a year shows the massive improvement McLaren has gone through in the past year, going from midfield to contender.

Formula 1 now turns its attention to the first European race in the 2024 season, the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, otherwise known as Imola following a year’s absence after the cancellation of the 2023 event due to heavy rain. Will Red Bull and Max Verstappen return to the top of the podium or have the floodgates opened for Lando Norris and McLaren for more victories?