#MiamiGP: @LandoNorris claims maiden #F1 victory in action-packed race.

Norris Miami GP Victory – McLaren’s Lando Norris clinched his maiden Formula 1 victory in an action-packed Miami GP taking advantage of the safety car to get the jump over Red Bull Racing’s long race leader Max Verstappen.

 

 

This was the Woking based-outfit’s first Grand Prix victory since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix and after Oscar Piastri’s triumph in last season’s 2022 Qatar F1 Sprint race.

 

When the 57-lap Miami GP began, pole-sitter Verstappen got a solid getaway into turn one whilst Perez made his past the slow-starting Leclerc as the Mexican suffered a lock-up into the opening corner and fell back into fifth place.

 

Leclerc almost collided with Ferrari team-mate Sainz into turn one allowing Piastri to slip into third place following Perez’s lock-up.

 

Behind them Hulkenberg made his way ahead of Hamilton to snatch seventh off the Mercedes driver.

 

At the end of the opening tour, Verstappen’s lead was 1.2 seconds over Leclerc with Piastri up into third, Sainz holding fourth as Perez rounded out the top five runners.

 

On lap four in the battle for second place with DRS assistance, Piastri got into the slipstream on Leclerc on the back-straight and made the move on the inside into the turn 17 left-hander and the McLaren driver jumped into second place.

 

Sainz was also tucked right behind his Ferrari team-mate Leclerc in the battle for third place.

 

On the seventh tour race leader Verstappen was 2.223 seconds in-front of Piastri with Leclerc third, Sainz right behind the Monegasque in fourth as Perez rounded out the top five.

 

The stewards also noted Perez for a potential jump start.

 

Further back Hamilton made his way back up into seventh place passing Hulkenberg before the latter reclaimed the sport back after the Briton suffered a lock-up into the turn 17 left-hand hairpin.

 

On the 10^th tour, Verstappen’s gap out front was 2.757s seconds over Piastri on the C3 yellow-marked mediums. Further back, Hamilton was unhappy with Hulkenberg moving under-braking whilst there was no further investigation for Perez’s false start.

 

A tour later with DRS assistance, Hamilton managed to re-pass Hulkenberg on the inside of the turn 11 to take back seventh place.

 

The 11^th lap saw Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon the first to pit for a fresh set of hards and emerged at the rear causing a flurry of activity as a few teams opted to follow a lap later as Stroll was the furthest to pit from 11^th place.

 

After being passed by Mercedes’ George Russell, on the 13^th lap – Hulkenberg pitted from ninth for a fresh set of C2 white-branded hards and came out in 15^th place behind RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.

 

Lap 15 saw Verstappen’s lead increased to 3 seconds over Piastri with Leclerc holding station over fourth-placed team-mate Sainz as Perez completed the top five runners.

 

Leclerc was told by his team over the radio to do the opposite of what McLaren and tried to dummy the Woking based-outfit into pitting and did not work to avail.

 

Meanwhile the fight for fifth place intensified with McLaren’s Lando Norris right behind the rear of Perez’s Honda-powered RB20 entry and could not find a way past the Mexican on the back straight.

 

Verstappen was also given the hurry up by his Red Bull team to increase his lead over Piastri a little bit – the Australian was not quite in undercut range.

 

Despite being pressured from Norris for fifth place, Perez opted to jump into the pits on lap 18 for his fresh set of hards and came out in 10^th behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon freeing the McLaren.

 

On the 20^th tour, Verstappen’s lead was steady at 3.419 seconds in-front of Piastri as Leclerc stopped from third and came out on his fresh set of the C2 rubber in sixth place behind Hamilton with a solid 1.9 second pit-stop from the Ferrari crew.

 

Meanwhile, Norris was told by his McLaren team rather than reacting to Perez’s pitstop, to go chase after third-placed Sainz and does posted the fastest lap.

 

A tour later, Leclerc with DRS assistance got into the slipstream of Hamilton’s Mercedes on the back straight and passed the F1 W15 around the outside of the left-hand turn 11 hairpin to take fifth place from the Briton.

 

Meanwhile Verstappen, knocked over the bollard in turn 16.

 

The virtual safety car was deployed for the bollard to be cleared as Ocon, Alonso and Magnussen all opted to stop.

 

Lap 24 saw race leader Verstappen pit for his fresh set of the harder compound and came out in fourth place behind Norris.

 

On lap 25, the yet-to-pit top three of Piastri, Sainz and Norris were split by 2.5 seconds over each other.

 

The 27^th tour saw Hamilton pit from sixth place for a set of the C3 mediums, emerging in ninth behind Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu whilst Norris was drawing ever close to his former McLaren team-mate Sainz in third.

 

On lap 28, both Piastri and Sainz stopped from the lead and second respectively for their fresh set of the harder C2 white side-walled tyre and came out in fourth and fifth.

 

Meanwhile a lap later, double waved yellows were waved after replays showed Magnussen and home favourite Logan Sargeant off at turn three following a tangle.

 

Magnussen had a look on the Williams around the outside into turn one and cuts back across for the switch-back, the Dane was halfway alongside the American when Sargeant turned into the corner as both collided.

 

The safety car was deployed to clear Sargeant’s stricken FW46 entry as Perez pitted for a second time and came out in sixth place behind Sainz.

 

Norris took the opportunity to stop for his fresh set of hards.

 

The order on lap 32 behind the safety car was Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz, Perez, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Russell and Ocon the top ten runners.

 

Meanwhile, Magnussen – who continued on following his tangle with Sargeant – was hit with a ten-second time penalty by the stewards for causing a collision.

 

When the race resumed on lap 33, Norris managed to keep Verstappen behind into turn one, whilst Piastri had a close look on Leclerc into the opening corner also.

 

The gap one lap after the safety car saw Norris 1.2 seconds over Verstappen with Leclerc third, Piastri fourth as Sainz rounded out the top five.

 

In the fight for fourth Sainz got into the slipstream of Piastri and with DRS assistance made an overtake on the outside of the McLaren at turn 11, but the Australian covered the Spaniard and maintained the position as both banged wheels.

 

Behind them, Hamilton squeezed his way past Tsunoda at turn 13 to snatch seventh place from the RB driver.

 

The fight between Sainz and Piastri continued to heat up on the 36^th lap as the Ferrari had another look at turn 11 but could not find his way by as the Spaniard locks up.

 

No further investigation by the stewards was given for the Sainz-Piastri incident at turn 11.

 

With 20 tours remaining, Norris’s was 2.246 seconds clear over Verstappen with Leclerc third, Piastri fourth as Sainz completed the top five runners.

 

On lap 39, Sainz had another look on Piastri on the back straight down at turn 11 as the latter covered the Ferrari.

 

Later on in the tour, Sainz made a deep inside late move on Piastri into turn 17 as both made contact with the latter damaging his front wing, then both ran wheel-to-wheel on the beginning of lap 40 as Piastri then briefly got the place back before running wide at turn one as the Ferrari driver took the position off the McLaren.

 

Meanwhile, Perez and Hamilton both made their way in-front of Piastri as the latter boxed for a new front wing and fell back to last.

 

With 15 tours left, Norris’s lead increased to 3.608 seconds over Verstappen with the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz in third and fourth respectively as Perez completed the top five.

 

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Magnussen was given another 10-second time penalty for failing to serve his time penalty properly.

 

Also currently, the stewards are investigating Magnussen for entering the pits under Safety Car conditions.

 

Race officials were also investigating the incident involving the collision between Sainz and Piastri at turn 17 after the race.

 

With eight tours remaining, Norris’s gap ahead to Verstappen was up to 5.346 seconds as Leclerc held third, Sainz fourth as Perez and Hamilton rounded out the top six.

 

Having been in DRS range for a while now, Hamilton did not have the straight-line speed to get passed Perez as the seven-time world champion’s tyres were 25 years old and well past their optimal conditions meanwhile further behind them, Ocon was managing to keep up with Alonso in the battle for ninth place.

 

With five laps left, Norris’s lead was sitting at 6.118 seconds over Verstappen with Leclerc third, Sainz fourth as Perez completed the top five runners.

 

Piastri was also given a reminder from his McLaren team that Norris was leading the race and did not want to cause a safety car.

 

There were mini battles up and down the field as Albon suffered a massive lock up at turn 11, allowing Zhou, Ricciardo and Piastri through.

 

A tour later Piastri passed his fellow-Australian compatriot Ricciardo into 15^th place at the turn 11 left hander.

 

Norris crossed the line to clinch his first-career victory in his 110^th race start at the Miami GP by 7.612 seconds over Verstappen as Leclerc completed the top three a further 9.920 seconds back.

 

Perez followed in fourth in the other RB20 entry and ahead of Sainz who was fifth (was demoted after being hit with a post-race five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Piastri), Hamilton who took sixth and RB’s Tsunoda who placed seventh.

 

Mercedes’ Russell, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alpine’s Ocon rounded out the top ten.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Hulkenberg finished the Grand Prix outside the top 10 in 11^th place and in-front of Gasly who came home 12^th and Piastri who was 13^th in the classification.

 

Sauber’s Zhou and Valtteri Bottas ended the race in 14^th and 16^th respectively as RB’s Ricciardo split the pairing in 15^th.

 

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll settled for a low-17^th as Magnussen and Albon brought up the rear.

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2024 Miami GP – The Top Three

 

 

2024 Miami GP Winner – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38:

“About time huh?! What a race. It’s been a long time coming at last I’ve been able to do it for my team and deliver for them. It was a long race; the whole weekend has been good with some little setbacks along the way. I knew on Friday we had the pace. Today we managed to put it together. We had the perfect strategy. What do I say to [McLaren]? I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way but today we put it all together and it’s for them. We’ve stuck together and I believe in them.”

 

2^nd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20, +7.612s:

“You win, you lose, we are all used to that in racing. Today was just tricky, even on the mediums we weren’t pulling away. Once they switched onto the hard tyre, they were flying. If a bad day is P2, I take it. I’m happy for Lando, it’s been a long time coming and it’s not going to be his last one. He deserves it today. [McLaren] came with an upgrade, for sure it looks like it works right?! We’ll analyse and try to come back stronger.”

 

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24, +9.920s:

“I didn’t have a great start, had wheelspin, Checo [Perez] on the right locked up and I thought we would crash but fortunately we all got out with no damage. Unfortunately we missed a little bit of pace. We managed everything quite well, and P3 was the best we could do. I’m really happy for Lando, he deserves it. We were expecting them to be strong – maybe not as strong as they showed today, Now it is up to us to bring the upgrades and catch up.”

 

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Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2024 Race Results Classification (57 Laps)

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team – Mercedes	57	1:30:49.876	25
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda-RBPT	57	+7.612s	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	57	+9.920s	15
4	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda-RBPT	57	+14.650s	12
5	55	Carlos Sainz	Scuderia Ferrari	57	+16.407s	10
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	57	+16.585s	8
7	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Visa Cash App RB F1 Honda-RBPT	57	+26.185s	6
8	63	George Russell	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	57	+34.789s	4
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco – Mercedes	57	+37.107s	2
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team – Renault	57	+39.746s	1
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas F1 Team – Ferrari	57	+40.789s	0
12	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine F1 Team –  Renault	57	+44.958s	0
13	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren F1 Team – Mercedes	57	+49.756s	0
14	24	Zhou Guanyu	Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber – Ferrari	57	+49.979s	0
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Visa Cash App RB F1 – Honda-RBPT	57	+50.956s	0
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber – Ferrari	57	+52.356s	0
17	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco – Mercedes	57	+55.173s	0
18	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Racing – Mercedes	57	+76.091s	0
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team – Ferrari	57	+84.683s	0
NC	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams Racing – Mercedes	27	DNF	0

***Magnussen received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision and a 20-second time penalty for entering the pits during a Safety Car period and not changing tyres. Stroll received a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Sainz received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.***

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1234/miami/race-result.html

 

Click here for the full 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings

 

Round seven of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy for the Formula 1 MSC Cruises Del Made In Italy Dell’Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2024 from Friday May 17-Sunday May 19.

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