At the Miami Grand Prix, Lando Norris finally won an F1 race, defeating Max Verstappen by over seven seconds in his upgraded McLaren, with the assistance of a safety car.
After securing his first Formula 1 victory, Lando Norris received a lot of praise from Max Verstappen.
After Logan Sargeant’s crash, Verstappen led the Miami Grand Prix for the first part of the race before he had to pit. After halting for his own new tires, Norris managed to maintain his lead at that moment.
He had enough speed in his McLaren on the restart to hold off the Red Bull. Furthermore, he increased his lead and passed Verstappen by more than seven seconds at the checkered flag.
The Dutchman then grinned and acknowledged that he could do nothing to stop his friend from beating him. Verstappen uttered, “It’s win-win. In racing, I think we’re all accustomed to that. It was a little challenging today. I didn’t feel great on the mediums, I believe already. It wasn’t like we should be pulling away, but we were.
“After we pulled into the pits, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty quick,’ when I heard the lap times that McLaren was doing. When they also changed to the hard tire, they simply moved faster overall, with Lando leading the charge. For us, that period was really challenging. However, I’ll accept it if a bad day costs P2.
In Parc Fermé, after they had exited their vehicles, Verstappen embraced Norris tightly. Rejoicing that his friend had finally broken his F1 duck at the 110th attempt, he showered the Briton with praise.
“And I’m very happy for Lando,” he stated. It has taken a very long time. He deserves it today, and this isn’t going to be his last one either.”
When asked if he believed McLaren’s speed was indicative of what they would be able to achieve with their latest upgrades, he responded, “I hope not! They arrived with an improvement. Yes, clearly, it appears to work. Thus, we still have some work to do on our end. Undoubtedly, we didn’t have the best race pace this past weekend, but we’ll review everything and make an effort to improve.”
In the meantime, Norris was reacting to finally realizing his childhood dream and was finding it difficult to process it all. “About time, huh?” exclaimed the 24-year-old, who then swore during the live TV broadcast and quickly apologized.
“What a race,” Norris continued. After much effort, I’ve finally succeeded in doing it. My entire team is overjoyed that I’ve finally delivered for them. After a long day and a difficult race, I’m finally victorious and ecstatic.”
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