Lando Norris claimed his maiden Formula 1 race victory by winning the Miami Grand Prix after pulling away from Max Verstappen over the second half of the race.
The McLaren driver took his first grand prix victory in his 110th start thanks largely to a well-timed Safety Car that allowed him to make his sole stop and retain the lead.Norris held the lead at the restart and drove away from Verstappen’s Red Bull over the second half of the race to win by seven seconds. Charles Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari.
Having started fifth, Norris was strong through his opening stint on mediums and kept pace with early race leader Verstappen ahead. While many of Norris’s rivals around him pitted early for hard tyres, he remained out on the track, keeping his pace up.
The Safety Car was deployed at the mid point of the race, but Verstappen was picked up by the Safety Car rather than leader Norris. That allowed Norris, who had not stopped, to build up a lead of over 30 seconds before pitting for hard tyres and retain the lead.
Verstappen was unable to catch the McLaren over the second half of the race and had to settle for second. Leclerc was third for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz Jnr fourth but under investigation by the stewards for a collision with Oscar Piastri.
Sergio Perez finished fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton with Yuki Tsunoda in seventh and George Russell in eighth. Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon claimed the final points in ninth and tenth, respectively.
Logan Sargeant was the only retirement after he was forced out of his home grand prix after a collision with Kevin Magnussen at turn three. The Haas driver was given a ten second time penalty for the clash and is under investigation for multiple other incidents.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Miami Grand Prix
- McLaren had superior pace before Verstappen’s damage in Miami – Norris
- Sainz ‘struggles to understand’ why he got penalty when Perez didn’t
- Alonso’s unusual brake problem and more unheard Miami team radio
- McLaren’s Miami upgrade success points to even stronger form in coming races
- Norris expects more wins this year and believes “100%” in 2025 title bid
Jere (@jerejj)
5th May 2024, 22:47
Finally, a redemption for the 2021 Russian GP, although the caveat of benefitting from a race control error comes with his maiden win.
What an amateurish error for the SC to pick up the wrong driver, although even if he rejoined behind, he still would’ve had the same tyre advantage & thus possibly the same outcome either way.
Sainz barely bothered to turn.
The Magnussen-Sargeant collision was more or less 50-50, but I guess the former should’ve realized to back off rather than force himself to stay alongside with the gap closing.
Nick T.
6th May 2024, 0:28
I think this will really help with him quali woes. In fact, I’d be surprised to see him make an error again in quali this season.
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
6th May 2024, 1:45
Norris led by 11.6 seconds when the SC was deployed, so barring an error at the pit stop, I think he would have come out ahead even without the SC picking up Verstappen.
I think what could have been really embarrassing is if Norris hadn’t used the mediums during qualifying and had a fresh set of them to throw on. Given how long it took for race control to release the cars trapped behind the SC, by my reckoning, he had enough time to make a second pit stop, shed his hard tyres, having used them for one lap, and then rejoin again in the lead on mediums!
BasCB (@bascb)
6th May 2024, 7:13
yeah, it looked like he had the gap to do it already in the bag. But it was still a bit of a mess with the SC there.
I don’t think McLaren would have done that Mark, the risk of that extra pitstop would be daunting to them.
Jere (@jerejj)
6th May 2024, 7:40
@markzastrow @bascb
Yes, he just about had a big enough lead to rejoin ahead anyway, but only just, so not a definite given, but even though SC picking up the wrong driver definitively guaranteed him to rejoing ahead, he would’ve had the same tyre advantage either way, & thus probably still won.
Osnola
6th May 2024, 10:53
Very possible. But only imagine this sitiation in the wdc defining race. Maylander would have sacrificed like massi.
Chris (@racefanchris)
6th May 2024, 13:42
Pointed out on another thread, the safety car did not pick up the wrong driver. Once SC left the pits, Max was the first driver to catch (Lando had already passed pit exit). The safety car would have taken the pack through the turn four crash site, before releasing Max and the rest later in the lap. So lucky Lando? Yes! But it looked like a safety first issue for race control, not an effort to prioritise one driver over another. It should be added Lando’s win was based on strong pace. Max may have won with track position, but it is promising to see another driver/team rival Max and Red Bull for race pace.
Kribana (@krichelle)
5th May 2024, 22:50
Even without the safety car, as soon as I saw Norris’ pace after Perez pitted, I felt he would have still been a threat to Verstappen.
Mayrton
9th May 2024, 11:57
I agree, yet they felt the need to rig it and did. With a satisfying outcome for all, but still.. worrying stuff in terms of sport integrity once again.
senproman
5th May 2024, 22:53
Sainz wins after operation.
Norris wins after getting a scar on his face.
Conclusion: injured drivers drive better ;)
senproman
5th May 2024, 22:53
Further evidence: One of Stroll’s most respectable races last year was with a recovering wrist.
AlanD
6th May 2024, 3:19
So next race, if someone drives like the clappers, we’ll know they’ve caught something in the zipper.
Mooa42
6th May 2024, 8:03
Maybe you’ve just stumbled upon Max’s normal pre-race routine??
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
6th May 2024, 8:18
Well that’s not going to cut it in Brazil
bull mello (@bullmello)
5th May 2024, 22:54
Very happy for Lando! Good job and great win.
Tom
5th May 2024, 22:54
Sure he got lucky with the safety car, but his pace when Perez pitted is what got him back into the race. Even without gaining the lead he’d have been locked into a podium and given his 8 second win possibly fighting for the win too.
Great to see another winner in F1 and Lando has shown he’s got the skill many times before. Hopefully he irons out those little mistakes and has a solid shot at the WDC next year or 2026.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th May 2024, 7:14
Yeah, Max was not really gaining on Norris at all before that pitstop, so Norris really had a realistic shot at it by that time.
David BR (@david-br)
5th May 2024, 22:56
Terrible circuit but really happy (smiling for ages happy) for Norris finally getting a F1 win. Those emotions are what Formula 1 needs and is about. McLaren looking good. Zac Brown looked fairly chuffed.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
6th May 2024, 5:04
Zac is not really a fan favourite but he deserves a lot of praise for how he turned McLaren around and built a great team there. From drivers, to engineers, to the Team Principal, this McLaren team looks like a understated team that punches above its weight and budgets.
To be able to regularly finish ahead of Mercedes, Ferrari or Perez and now to actually beat Max in a dry race is a great achievement.
David BR (@david-br)
6th May 2024, 15:21
@gechichan I agree it’s a great achievement – also I’m fine with Zac Brown, one of the best TPs out there. I’ll be really happy if McLaren can push Red Bull at more races this season and maybe win some.
Osnola
6th May 2024, 15:42
Zac is not TP!
He is ceo,
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
5th May 2024, 22:56
Delighted for Lando.
I was certain that Max would easily sweep past him at the re-start.
Perhaps Red Bull don’t have as much in reserve as I thought.
MacLeod (@macleod)
6th May 2024, 7:46
I think it was clear that the hard weren’t good on the Red Bull so seeing how easy he drove away i think it was not possible for max to overtake him on the mediums i think it was possible but that didn’t happen so Lando wins and i couldn’t be more happy for him.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
5th May 2024, 23:02
Every McLaren win feels extremely emotional, no wonder when it’s only the second since Brazil 2012. I had flashbacks of Nürburgring 2005 and Sochi 2021 for each of the last 25 laps, but my oh my, was it worth it. It feels like the powers in F1 are slowly shifting.
erikje (@erikje)
5th May 2024, 23:15
I hope so.
The positive point is that McLaren look to actually understand their car. Every upgrade works and they’ve added some serious pace since the start of last year.
I expect RedBull to bring upgrades this year which Newey would have been involved in. But next year, will they have the same development without him? Who knows.
One race isn’t a shift, but hopefully 2025 is close and 2026 is a total reshuffle.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th May 2024, 7:16
All those laps I was so nervous, berating the commentators for mentioning him looking like having the win already and bringing in some kind of “commentators’ curse” event etc.
Really stressy, but so deserved. I do hope that this is a signal of more competative racing to be on the horizon, even though I do expect Red Bull (especially Max) to be the clear favourite for the rest of the races simply due to his knack for getting the maximum out of the car whenever he can.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th May 2024, 10:46
Ahah, I was also thinking that when someone who never won a race before and got close many times seems to have it in the bag, you should talk and focus on everything but that driver! And on whichever channel it was I watched (it had brundle and crofty), they tended to say the same, as in they swapped to talking about hamilton trying to overtake perez to not curse norris.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
5th May 2024, 23:02
Another “creative” win. Just when Max was about to set the new record of consecutive wins in Singapore last year Red Bull “forgot” how to set up their car and in Australia they “forgot” how to build it. Now that McLaren had former US president as their guest in Miami, FIA and Safety Car “forgot” to pick up the correct driver, handing Norris 20 or 30 seconds on a plate. What an amazing coincidence!
Max drove superb weekend in what clearly was the 3rd quickest car. His 2 pole positions and sprint win in a car which had no right to be even in top 3 is extraordinary achievement. Then to lead the Grand Prix and be robbed of the win only because of absurd mistake by Race Control doesn’t matter. Max does what others can’t.
Congrats to Norris too. Even if he underperformed yet again Friday and Saturday, circumstances put him in position to finally get the maiden victory, after wasting so many chances last 3 years. Let’s see if he can challenge Max in what was clearly better car than Red Bull.
miciek (@micio)
5th May 2024, 23:17
Or he drove a mediocre weekend in what clearly is the quickest car. Who knows?
Osnola
5th May 2024, 23:37
People who know know…
Mr B
5th May 2024, 23:48
Adrian Newey only announced he was leaving two days ago and look what’s happened to Red Bull already!
Nick T.
6th May 2024, 0:33
You seem to be both implying the race was fixed to prevent B-level record few care about, but at the same time hedge your excuses by saying he was in the third fastest car…
Checo couldn’t drive a car that was naturally in sixth to fourth on the grid and fifth in the race with the likes of Lewis behind him. Sorry, but Max just wasn’t feeling it as much as he normally does. He likely wins a close race without the SC.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
6th May 2024, 3:15
@armchairexpert- Do you really believe that nonsense, or are you just trying to get a rise out of people who actually know what they are talking about? With an ironic username like yours, it is hard to tell.
Davethechicken
6th May 2024, 9:12
100% correct Armchair.
Max flawlessly drove off the track, perfectly hitting a bollard with immaculate precision, to cause a VSC. I was amazed the Red Bull, which is clearly the worst car ever built didn’t implode and only Max’s genius in telepathy prevented another car hitting the now loose bollard.
To bring it home second ahead of Perez, who we all know to be the second best driver in F1 history is a stupendous achievement, yet everyone is talking about Lando?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
6th May 2024, 10:52
I’d say red bull was maybe the 2nd best car in this case, I’d say: upgraded mclaren > red bull > ferrari\regular mclaren.
3rd best car is obviously an exageration, but clearly verstappen, who didn’t make a lot of mistakes over the weekend, was pulling away less than norris could when each were in front.
PlosslF1
6th May 2024, 11:32
Perhaps Super Max ain’t so Super after all…
stjs16 (@stjs16)
6th May 2024, 15:46
Ah, like the “Creative” 2021 Finale?
stjs16 (@stjs16)
6th May 2024, 15:47
Oh and great job Lando!!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
5th May 2024, 23:02
The safety car will get him back another day… but it’s always lovely to see a driver’s dream coming true. They’ll be dancing in the streets of Woking tonight.
Jogo
5th May 2024, 23:14
Long awaited victory. Congratulations from Ukraine.
Edvaldo
5th May 2024, 23:15
From what it could be seen with the track map, Norris was already past the pit entry when the Safety Car was deployed, but not pit exit.
The Safety Car should come out ahead of him but for some reason, it didn’t it, waited Max to come by and because of it Norris could open a gap large enough for him to pit and come back ahead of the pack.
Pretty amateurish mistake by race direction.
Nick T.
6th May 2024, 0:38
What’s new? RD and stewards have been an utter clown show this season and really since Whiting, Blash, etc. stopped running the show. It was never perfect, but it’s just adorable now. I’m surprised they didn’t throw a RF for the cone.
miciek (@micio)
5th May 2024, 23:18
Another bad race but let’s appreciate the outcome.
Now that the burden is off Lando’s back, let’s see what he is capable of.
Osnola
5th May 2024, 23:39
Bad race?
Lots of figthing. Close during the race. Nice overtakes..
Did you ever see f1 before netflix?
anon
6th May 2024, 8:31
Osnola, you’re talking to a poster whose profile lists them as being a fan since 1996, so they might know a thing or two about what the sport was like long before Netflix turned up.
David (@nvherman)
6th May 2024, 10:30
That’s as may be. Doesn’t change the fact that they’re wrong. I’ve been watching F1 since 1989, and I thought it was quite a good race, all things considered.
miciek (@micio)
6th May 2024, 11:50
A good race has at least some overtakes at the top (there has to be some racing in a race, right?)
Osnola
6th May 2024, 10:58
Thats assumption on assumption. Being registred since 1996 does not mean he followed all those seasons. He obviously missed a lot. This was a very nice race on a bad track.
anon
6th May 2024, 11:46
Osnola, and you aren’t piling assumptions on top of assumptions by insisting that you know what the viewing habits of that particular poster are? Or have you been engaging in rather strange stalking behaviour again?
Osnola
6th May 2024, 15:47
@anon, it seems you are getting annoyed by my asking for sources when you launch another make up story.
That seems a bit like stalking indeed ;)
GechiChan (@gechichan)
6th May 2024, 5:11
not a bad race, I loved the fights in the midpack and also a race that is won by someone coming from 5th on the grid is a breath of fresh air.
MichaelN
5th May 2024, 23:54
Wait, what? How is that even possible? That’s an awful bit of race directing.
I guess it’s nice that Norris finally won, but like this? Puts a bit of a damper on the story.
RandomMallard
6th May 2024, 1:10
Looking at the timing, Lando may well have just been far enough clear to pit under the SC without the whole mess up from Race Control. F1.com was estimating 9 seconds for a pit stop under SC and Lando had an 11 second gap so it may well have worked without anyway.
Anyway, I wonder if Bernd Maylander just picked up Max by force of habit ;-)
Edvaldo
6th May 2024, 13:26
yeah, but he would not keep this gap had the Safety Car came in front of him. It would slow him down to the point Max would be close to his gearbox. And only then he would go for tyres.
grapmg
6th May 2024, 9:20
Race control is lucky this is not a championship decider last race of the year or someone might have lost his job. But serious if they would have picked up Norris at the end of the pit exit the gap of 11 s and the pit stop opportunity would have been gone so it was a race deciding error form race control if you ask me
Rich
5th May 2024, 23:54
Yeah for racers it was an incredible experience race with lots of tension. The track isn’t bad at Al for a city course, they are all supposed to be different and tough for driver and car. There was hard racing throughout the race and the field. Lando won purely on merit. Doesn’t matter when the safety car picked him up, he was still in the lead and had Max at his back for the restart.
Edvaldo
6th May 2024, 0:21
How come it was purely on merit when the safety car made him jump from 5th to 1st without a single overtake?
Max had worn tyres but was far away in the distance and the Safety Car took all of it away.
These things happen in racing but no, man, it was not purely on merit. A good bit of luck was necessary too.
David (@nvherman)
6th May 2024, 0:35
Norris was leading before the Safety Car was deployed, as Verstappen had pitted and Norris hadn’t.
The SC just enabled Norris to have a cheap pit stop, but when you see the rate he pulled away from Verstappen after the restart, it was definitely well earned
Nick T.
6th May 2024, 0:40
Well earned, but not without the aid of luck. But then again having the fastest car, like Max does, is luck too. So, I won’t put any type of asterisk on this win.
AlanD
6th May 2024, 3:28
Max had some luck today too, when his teammate missed ending both their races by millimeters. Later on, he completely misjudge the chicane, and was lucky enough to go straight on without tearing anything off the car, and without the pylon he demolished getting sucked into the air intake.
Edvaldo
6th May 2024, 0:53
He would need to do some overtaking to win the race without the cheap pit stop.
He obviously pulled away quickly because he had better tyres. Maybe he had the pace to do it, but the fact is, he was too far off to win it in any other way.
No asteriks, no nothing, Safety Cars happen, and it was a major contributor today.
FlyingLap (@flyinglapp)
6th May 2024, 1:35
Lando’s strategy of pitting after Max, hoping for and/or anticipating a safety car, paid off handsomely. You can call it luck, but his long first stint helped the luck to happen.
Rich
6th May 2024, 1:53
Had the safety car picled up lando then the field would’ve been backed up and lando would’ve pitted and gone down to about 15th with the whole grid on his tail in a SC line up. Was a gift of a win given by the FIA
TrueGrit
6th May 2024, 4:32
Not to mention Piastri was leading but also pitted just before the SC. As much as the British commentators are fawning over the win, luck had a major part in the win. I like it that someone other than Max has won but Norris is hard to like, especially with the constant barracking from Sky towards British drivers.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th May 2024, 7:22
Yeah, Piastri must feel the gods were against him a bit today, he could have been the one making it to the pits instead, wouldn’t have been in the situation with Sainz later on and wouldn’t have ended up at the back if not for the bad luck with when the SC came out.
Then again, I don’t think Piastri would have been able to keep Norris behind IF they would have ended up in the lead together, he still doesn’t quite seem to be able to make the tyres last as good as Norris manages on a good day.
Nick T.
6th May 2024, 0:51
BTW, you have to be semi-impressed with how quickly Alpine has recovered some form. Less impressive is them hocking NFTs on their official SM account. So embarrassing and low class.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th May 2024, 7:23
Yeah, they suddenly seem like they ARE working with a plan instead of being a complete joke. Good job on them for it, that was another plus this weekend, to see them be in the mix, that epic battle between them (and NOT crashing into each other) as well as Ocon’s defence from Alonso (again without any undue moves).
MichaelN
6th May 2024, 14:16
Wasn’t the main issue that the weight of the internal components was just too high? So no real conceptual changes needed to the design of the car. Still, as noted, it’s a good step! Brings them back to their more usual place around P10.
Scalextric (@scalextric)
6th May 2024, 1:17
As I recall, Stroll had been shown the black and white flag for track limits even before his last transgression that led to his 10 second penalty. So shouldn’t that have added to his penalties? I don’t think it would have affected the result or led to points on his license. But still.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
6th May 2024, 12:54
I agree.
MadLewis (@madlewis)
6th May 2024, 6:04
Outstanding race win! Very happy for Lando. I really hope McLaren’s upgrade is a leap forward. We need this at the front
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
6th May 2024, 12:58
Great win for NOR and McLaren. Is VER losing focus out on the track as he was leading comfortably, again, and then went off, damaging his car? Is that the only way another team is going to be able to win this season? Was kind of rooting for an incident in the last 3 or 4 laps to see how the race director would decide to end the race. McLaren was also concerned at how the race director would decide too as they told PIA to knock it off. Should just end behind a safety car but there is the Show to consider.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
6th May 2024, 13:29
I like Norris and I delighted for him and McLaren but the maiden win just feels wrong for a driver of his caliber. The distance between him and the Red Bull in the same race following the pit stop is almost unfathomable.