The 24-year-old driver’s success is McLaren’s first race victory since the Italian Grand Prix in September 2021. Norris has been on the podium 15 times in F1 without a win, which is a record.
Behind Norris, the defending champion and three-time world champion Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver of Red Bull, finished second, while Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver from Monaco, was able to take the bottom step of the podium.
Verstappen, who started from the pole position, caught the start very well, so he easily turned first, while Leclerc, who stopped while accelerating, was attacked by several people. Among them, the other Red Bull driver, Sergio Pérez, missed the first braking distance and slipped off the ideal curve, as a result of which Oscar Piastri (McLaren) was able to move up to third place. After one lap, the order of the first three was Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, fourth was 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, and the Spanish driver reported this on the radio. Leclerc then – the first from the front – drove into the pits to change tires on the 20th lap, and four laps later Verstappen got fresh tires from the front. On the 28th lap, Piastri and Sainz went to the pits at the same time for new tires, then due to an accident, the safety car drove onto the track, so Norris, who started from fifth place, but was leading at the time, immediately drove to the pits for a tire change, thanks to this, on lap 30 he returned to the field 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 he complained that it was difficult for him to turn into the corners. With ten laps to go, Norris’ advantage over Verstappen was five seconds, which increased to almost eight seconds by the time the wave went off, so the British driver deservedly won for the first time in his F1 career.
After Sunday’s Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz was penalized with a five-second penalty, thus changing the final result of the race and the world championship points standings.
The WC continues in two weeks in Imola, with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Modified final result, Miami Grand Prix, Miami (57 laps, 308.326 km, points scorers):
1. Lando Norris (UK, McLaren) 1:30:49.876 hours
2. Max Verstappen (Dutch, Red Bull) 7.612 seconds back
3. Charles Leclerc (Monaco, Ferrari) 9.920 sec h.
4. Sergio Pérez (Mexican, Red Bull) 14.650 sec h.
5. Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain, Ferrari) 16,407 mp h.
6. Lewis Hamilton (brit, Mercedes) 16.585 mp h.
7. Juki Cunoda (Japan, RB) 26.185 sec h.
8. George Russell (brit, Mercedes) 34.789 mp h.
9. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Aston Martin) 37,107 mp h.
10. Esteban Ocon (France, Alpine) 39.746 mp h.
fastest lap: 1:30.634 minutes (Oscar Piastri, McLaren, lap 43)
pole position: Verstappen
Modified standings of the World Cup points races after 6 races (18 more to go):
competitors:
1. Verstappen 136 ferry
2. Pérez 103
3. Leclerc 98
4. Norris 83
5. Sainz 83
6. Oscar Piastri (Australian, McLaren) 41
7. Russell 37
8. Alonso 33
9. Hamilton 27
10. Cunoda 14
11. Lance Stroll (Canadian, Aston Martin) 9
12. Oliver Bearman (brit, Ferrari) 6
13. Nico Hülkenberg (Germany, Haas) 6
14. Daniel Ricciardo (Australian, RB) 5
15. Ocon 1
16. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Haas) 1
teams:
1. Red Bull 239 pont
2. Ferrari 187
3. McLaren 124
4. Mercedes 64
5. Aston Martin 42
6. RB 19
7. Haas 7
8. Alpine 1