Norris took his long-awaited victory against a down-to-earth Verstappen

In very few pools the name of Lando Norris to take the first victory of his life in Miami GP. The improvements of McLaren They worked perfectly and made this look Verstappen already red bull totally surmountable, something not seen for a long time. Those from Woking had better pace and took advantage of a Safety Car midway through the race for Lando to take the coveted victory after 109 races and another 15 podiums. Max finished second Leclerc closed the podium.

As for the Spanish, Carlos Sainz He had a day full of complications despite putting the Ferrari on a good pace. However, he finished in fourth position after a battle at the limit with Piastri. For his part, Fernando Alonso He made up six positions and finished ninth in a bittersweet weekend with two more points in his locker.

Pérez was almost chaotic at the start

Knowing the difficulty of overtaking, the start is key for the development of the race. Verstappen had no problem holding onto first position but the problem came behind another Red Bull. Pérez overbraked at the first corner and was almost overtaken by Max himself and the Ferraris. In fact, Carlos Sainz made a good start but by avoiding the Mexican he went from second to fourth behind Leclerc and a very sharp Piastri.

In fact, the McLarens surprised the first half of the race. Oscar pushed Leclerc to take second position and on lap 4, braking on lap 17 after the long straight in the third sector, he launched himself and snatched second position from the Monegasque. Charles seemed to have rhythm problems and on lap 7 he asked the wall to let his team-mate in Maranello. The team ignored it and Leclerc struggled a bit to avoid losing DRS with respect to Piastri.

The McLaren, which debuted many improvements in Miami, they are very comfortable and another proof of this is the pressure that Norris put on Pérez in the fight for fifth place. The Red Bull driver was on the ropes and that’s why he was the first of the leaders to remove mediums and put hard gear on lap 18. Lando took advantage of having a free track to improve his time and try to perform an overcut. He even managed to set the fastest lap on two consecutive laps.

A clear Virtual Safety

On lap 19 Leclerc came in because he couldn’t pass Piastri on the track. At Ferrari they changed the tires in just 1.9 seconds. A few laps later, Verstappen left the sector 2 chicane and left a bollard in the middle of the track. This led to the Virtual Safety Car being brought out on lap 23. Its active time was less than a minute and very few drivers took the opportunity to enter the pits. The four continued on the track first.

One of the entrants is Fernando Alonso, who is trying to get back into the points with a different strategy. He came out hard and put the stock. This helped him overtake direct rivals such as Gasly, Hülkenberg and Ocon

After that scare, Verstappen came in on lap 24 to put on the hard rubber. He returned to the track in fourth position as Piastri inherited the lead followed by Sainz

A Safety Car jumping Norris

Trouble came on lap 28, when everyone but Norris had stopped. Magnussen and Sargeant collided in Turn 4 and both ended up in the wall. Lando won the lottery while Sainz and Piastri did not win the lottery as they only entered one lap early. McLaren were having the same pace as Red Bull and they were in front with fresh rubber and didn’t have to overtake. All for the British to achieve his first victory.

The race was called off on lap 33 and Norris escaped. In fact, it was Leclerc who attacked Verstappen to take second position. From behind, Sainz tried to pass Piastri at turn 11 and the two went through the hole. Carlos asked on the radio to give him the position because of a dangerous maneuver, but the commissioners decided not to act. “It’s incredible,” the man from Madrid said on the radio.

On lap 39, furious, he dropped the anchor at turn 17 and the Ferrari and the McLaren even made contact. Piastri didn’t throw in the towel at the finish line but widened at Turn 1. Sainz eventually settled into fourth behind Leclerc while Oscar finally went to the pits to repair the damage.

Up front, Norris continued to squeeze his McL38 and set the fastest lap on lap 43. Overtaking Verstappen and Red Bull for the first time in a long time at extreme speed. And so was Norris’ first victory in F1 and McLaren’s first since the 2021 Italian GP, ​​where Ricciardo certainly won with the British second without attacking his teammate. It was only the second victory for those from Woking in 12 years.

Verstappen was left without his fifth win of the year while Sainz stayed close to Leclerc, who added another podium. Pérez is another clear example that the level of Red Bull is not what was seen in previous events and finished in fifth place, defending itself from the attacks of Lewis Hamilton.

Behind, Alonso battled well with Esteban Ocon to take ninth position. In the end, the Spaniard managed to overcome the Frenchman with the help of DRS and score two points in what has been Aston’s toughest weekend so far this season.