Lando Norris came away with victory on Sunday at the Miami Grand Prix, which served as round six of the 2024 F1 season. It was the McLaren driver’s maiden win.
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen finished in second place some 7.6 seconds behind, after his day unraveled in the second half of the race. Third place went to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, roughly 10 seconds behind the winner.
Verstappen started the race on pole and was mostly unchallenged early on. Starting next to him was Leclerc who was bogged down and left trying to defend from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, as well as from fellow Red Bull driver Sergio Perez who almost came into contact with Verstappen in the first turn. Norris started the race at sixth on the grid and would be behind Perez in the early parts of the race.
Verstappen would soon start pulling away from the pack, while Piastri, showing the first signs of McLaren’s strong pace, began to close in on Leclerc. On lap four, Piastri used DRS to power past Leclerc on the long run to Turn 17, and from there things started to settle.
On lap 21, Verstappen started to complain about front grip, and his race almost came to an early end when he took too much curb at Turn 14. He bounced through the chicane and on his way across the curbs pushed a bollard onto the racing line, which required the virtual safety car. Verstappen at this point pitted for fresh tires and checks for damage on his front wing.
Piastri was in the lead at this point, but Verstappen was expected to regain the spot quickly. However, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen came into contact with Williams’ Logan Sargeant, with Sargeant ending up spinning into the barriers. This time the actual safety car was deployed.
Norris immediately entered the pits and resumed the race in the lead spot, ahead of Verstappen in second and Leclerc in third and ahead of Piastri. The safety car left the track at the end of lap 32, and despite pressure from Verstappen, Norris controlled the restart well to comfortably hold the lead, which he did so to the end of the race. Verstappen remained in second and Leclerc in third in the final stages.
Behind them, Piastri and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz were in a battle for fourth spot. There was contact between the two, with Piastri suffering damage to his wing, requiring him to pit. Sainz would finish in fourth but was later handled a five-second penalty, demoting him to fifth behind Perez.
Following the weekend’s action, Verstappen leads the 2024 Drivers’ Championship with 136 points. Perez is second with 103 points, and Leclerc is third with 98 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull leads with 239 points, versus the 187 of Ferrari and 124 of McLaren.
The next race on the calendar is the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in two weeks.
Below are the full results from the 2024 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix:…Read more by Viknesh Vijayenthiran
