It’s been a long time in coming but Lando Norris finally clinched his maiden Grand Prix race victory for McLaren, beating Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in dominant fashion at Miami International Autodrome.
Having started from fifth place, Norris had worked his way up and was yet to pit meaning he was in the lead of the race when a safety car for Logan Sargeant being forced off by Kevin Magnussen proved perfect timing for his own stop.
Verstappen and Leclerc both looked off their usual pace on Sunday. Carlos Sainz survived a fierce battle with Oscar Piastri to finish fourth ahead of a sluggish Sergio Perez who only just held off Lewis Hamilton for P5.
It was another hot and sunny day in Miami ahead of the Grand Prix with track temperatures hitting 43C as the cars headed to the grid. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc were reunited on the front row for the second time this weekend after Saturday’s Sprint. Behind them, Carlos Sainz was third alongside Sergio Perez, followed by all-McLaren (Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri) and all-Mercedes (George Russell and Lewis Hamilton) line-ups on the next two rows. The majority of drivers were on mediums but Hamilton had opted to start on the hard compound.
When the lights went out, Verstappen got a fine launch while Leclerc struggled badly, meaning that the Red Bull sailed into the first corner very much in control. Leclerc found himself going backwards as he was passed by Sainz and Perez, but the Mexican was running wild. He locked up, running wide into turn 1 which opened the door for Leclerc to regain P2 and for Piastri to sneak through for third where he immediately set about applying pressure to the Ferrari ahead.
There was plenty of action further back as well. Nico Hulkenberg had jumped Hamilton for eighth, the pair continuing their fight for position over the next few laps but the Mercedes struggling to pass the Haas on its hard tyres. Meanwhile Alpine team mates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon had been fighting it out side-by-side through turns 14, 15 and 16, with Gasly emerging just in front and then chasing after Fernando Alonso for 12th.
Piastri had managed to get within DRS range of Leclerc, and he made a successful move on the Monegasque down the inside of turn 17 on lap 5, Leclerc struggling with his rear tyres and too busy holding off Sainz to make any counter attack. Piastri now had his sights set on catching the race leader, but Verstappen was already two and a half seconds down the road.
Hamilton finally succeeded in passing Hulkenberg on lap 10, leaving the Haas defending hard against Russell, who finally made it past on lap 13. Hulkenberg responded by joining a growing number of cars including Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Williams team mate Logan Sargeant who were heading to pit lane for their first stops of the afternoon. The Haas rejoined in P15, coming back out just behind RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Perez was in on lap 18 to for a new set of hard tyres, earlier than planned but necessary after flat-spotting his first set of mediums in that the first lap lock-up. Leclerc was in on lap 20 in a bid to undercut Piastri, but McLaren didn’t take the bait with either of their cars. A short Virtual Safety Car was triggered by Verstappen hitting a bollard at the chicane allowed a few cars to dive down pit lane, but the timing didn’t work for the top four and it was finished before they could come in.
Red Bull still summoned Verstappen and Perez in for service even though the VSC was over. That put Piastri into the lead by almost three seconds from Sainz with Norris just behind, and Verstappen back out in fourth ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton. Perez was down to seventh, leading from Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu, Ricciardo holding the final points position in P10.
Piastri and Sainz pitted on lap 28, as did Hamilton, briefly leaving Norris in charge when a safety car was scrambled following an accident for Logan Sargeant, who had been hit by Kevin Magnussen at turn 3 and thrown off into the barrier. Despite some confusion about the safety car picking up Verstappen instead of Norris, McLaren were still able to bring Norris in for his pit stop and put him back out in the lead ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz and Perez for the restart on lap 33.
It was a nervy launch from Norris but having tyres that were eight laps younger enabled Norris to hold off Verstappen. Leclerc made a bid to pass the Red Bull, and while it didn’t work it did allow Norris scamper out of DRS range of the others with the fastest lap of the race so far. Further back, the safety car had been unkind to Piastri and Sainz who were locked in a fierce duel over fourth while a switchback to mediums during the caution had done little for Perez’ competitiveness as he held up Hamilton, Tsunoda, Russell and Ocon.
Norris was still pulling away from Verstappen who was declaring a “disaster” with handling issues on the Red Bull. Further back, the Piastri/Sainz battle boiled over on lap 37 with contact between them at turn 17. Sainz took the position, leaving Piastri with front wing damage that forced him to pit sending him tumbling out ot the top ten, promoting Alonso into the points.
Norris continued to pull away, pulling off the sort of dominant showing hitherto reserved purely for Verstappen. To the delighted cheers of the fans in the grandstand, he had a massive 7.6s advantage over Verstappen at the chequered flag followed by Leclerc and Sainz. If there were any doubt about Norris’ popularity in F1 then they were swept away by the wave of celebration in every corner of the circuit and the paddock as he declared “Thanks mum! Thanks dad! This one’s for my Grandma!” over the McLaren team radio.
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