Lando Norris broke Max Verstappen’s grasp on grand prix wins in 2024 by making the best of tire strategy in the Miami Grand Prix this afternoon. It all came down to the single pit stop made by Lando that allowed him to pull far enough away that Verstappen couldn’t regain the lead with the number of laps left in the race. The race was largely uneventful with many of the driver complaining about tire choices and surface grip. The drivers all struggled with car setups early in the weekend. They had one advantage with the sprint race to get actual race pace data to fine tune the cars for today’s Grand Prix.
Lando Norris Secures First F1 Win
Lando Norris has finally joined the record books as a Formula 1 race winner. “About time!” Norris said. “What a race. It’s been a long time coming, but finally I’ve managed to do it. I’m so happy for my whole team, I finally delivered for them. A long day, tough race, but finally on top so I’m over the moon. What do I say to them? I’m just proud really. A lot of people doubted me along the way. I’ve made a lot of mistakes over my last five years, my short career, but today we put it all together so this is all for the team. I stuck with McLaren because I could believe in them and I did believe in them. Today proved exactly that.”
Norris benefitted from the safety car that came out when Logan Sargeant crashed out of the Miami Grand Prix. Under the safety car Norris was able to save tire life which played into his hands at the end of the race. By the time the green flag flew there weren’t enough laps left in the race for Verstappen to catch Norris. Verstappen struggled with turning the car; a complaint he had all weekend despite winning the sprint race yesterday. Verstappen still is well in the drivers championship lead after the weekend with Sergio Perez retaining second place after his 4th place finish. He finished behind Charles Leclerc.
Full Miami Grand Prix Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 57 | 1:30:49.876 | 25 |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 57 | +7.612s | 18 |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 57 | +9.920s | 15 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 57 | +14.650s | 12 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 57 | +16.407s | 10 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 57 | +16.585s | 8 |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | 57 | +26.185s | 6 |
| 8 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 57 | +34.789s | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 57 | +37.107s | 2 |
| 10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 57 | +39.746s | 1 |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 57 | +40.789s | 0 |
| 12 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 57 | +44.958s | 0 |
| 13 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 57 | +49.756s | 0 |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 57 | +49.979s | 0 |
| 15 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | 57 | +50.956s | 0 |
| 16 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | 57 | +52.356s | 0 |
| 17 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 57 | +55.173s | 0 |
| 18 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 57 | +76.091s | 0 |
| 19 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 57 | +84.683s | 0 |
| NC | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 27 | DNF | 0 |
Magnussen received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision and a 20-second time penalty for entering the pits during a Safety Car period and not changing tires. Stroll received a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Sainz received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.