Lando Norris has won an F1 race for the first time, following 110 Grand Prix starts. Following an exciting Miami Grand Prix, the McLaren driver defeated Max Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc rounding out the podium in third.
Norris wins his first F1
Oscar Piastri, Norris’s McLaren teammate, first appeared, ready to challenge Verstappen for the victory. Sergio Perez made a mistake earlier, which allowed Piastri to go up to P2 after passing Leclerc and going from P6 to P3 off the line. Conversely, Norris got off to a slow start and was running P6 early on.
Verstappen did not pull off his signature early lead when out in front, even if he did eventually take the lead. When Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen got into an altercation on Lap 28, which led to the deployment of the Safety Car, it helped Norris gain an advantage in the race.
As Norris crossed the finish line, the Safety Car was brought out, enabling him to pit for new tires and resume the race in the lead. At the restart, he held off Verstappen and began to gain the lead as the Red Bull driver struggled with balance. In the end, Norris had a 7.612-second lead over Verstappen when he crossed the finish line.
“About time! It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally managed to do it. I’m so happy for the whole team, and what we’ve achieved together,” said Norris, who has scored McLaren’s first win since the 2021 Italian GP.
“We’ve had a few little setbacks across the weekend, but today we managed to put it all together. The car was great, the strategy was perfect, and I’m over the moon. I’m proud of everyone in this team today. I’ve always believed in them, and they’ve always had faith in me, and today we’ve really justified that.” By the way do read our article Audi Plans to Fully Take Over the Sauber F1 Team
In the Piastri match, Sainz received a penalty
Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s teammate at Ferrari, finished third. Sainz, though, was eventually given a five-second time penalty for bringing Piastri into contact. This moved Perez up to fourth position and lowered him to P5.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who placed sixth and eighth, respectively, helped Mercedes recover some points. Yuki Tsunoda of RB split the two Mercedes drivers in P7, and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin came in ninth. Esteban Ocon of Alpine completed the top 10, earning his first point of the year.
Verstappen is still leading the title by a margin of 33 points over his colleague Perez. Leclerc is only five points behind Perez in third place overall.
Now, on May 17–19, Formula One will travel to the Emilia Romagna GP at the Imola circuit in Italy.
