Miami Grand Prix | Lando Norris (McLaren) takes his first victory in F1, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) second

Formula 1 has a new Grand Prix winner in its ranks. At 24 years old and after his 110th race in the premier category, Lando Norris (McLaren) won for the very first time in his career in Miami on Sunday evening. If he took advantage of an error by the safety car, which came between him and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) with the Dutchman in the lead, the Briton then showed resplendent form by swapping his medium tires for tough ones. He crossed the finish line 7.6 seconds ahead of the three-time world champion and almost 10 seconds over Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), third.

Congratulated by all the McLaren mechanics and his boss Zak Brown, Norris can breathe easy: after fifteen podiums and eight second places, he has finally triumphed in F1, five years after his debut. And with style! Starting from fifth row, the Bristol native patiently built his race behind Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) initially.

The turning point: the safety car error

The shift came when the Mexican dived into the pit lane on the 17th lap. Released, Norris got the quintessence of an MCL38 enlivened by a slew of developments (10 new parts). He lined up the fast laps and found himself in the lead on lap 27 with the stoppage play.

Everything came to a head two laps later: the collision between Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Logan Sargeant (Williams) caused the safety car to come out, which made a huge mistake by positioning itself in front of Verstappen and not in front of Norris. The Dutchman brought to heel, Norris had plenty of time to swap his mediums for hard ones and start again in the lead.

Alpine scores its first point

We cannot trivialize the Briton’s feat – because beating Red Bull in 2024 is one! – and reduce it to this fact of racing. Because the McLaren driver, equipped with fresh tires, quickly took shelter from Verstappen’s DRS on the restart before widening an increasingly significant gap. He was 4 seconds behind on lap 45, he moved to 7.6 seconds at the checkered flag.

The McLaren clan was at the party, as well as that of Alpine. The French team scored its first point in 2024 through Esteban Ocon, tenth in Miami. Pierre Gasly was not that far behind, in twelfth place behind Nico Hülkenberg (Haas).

The Ferraris maximized the points with Leclerc on the podium and Carlos Sainz at the foot of the box – the Spaniard is under investigation by the stewards after an incident with Piastri – which makes 33 points more for the prancing horse firm.

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