Tag: Miami Grand Prix

McLaren’s Lando Norris wins Miami Grand Prix for maiden F1 win

McLaren’s Lando Norris won the first Formula One race of his career with a shock victory over world champion Max Verstappen in the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

Breathing life into an F1 season that risked becoming a one-man story again, Norris, in his 110th race for McLaren, beat Verstappen by over seven seconds with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finishing third.

Verstappen, who began on pole, had won four of the opening five races of the season and leads the world championship standings.

It looked like business as usual with the Dutchman, who had won the previous two Miami races, leading until lap 24 when he pitted and Norris’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri took over the lead.

Australian Piastri himself went into the pits four laps later, allowing Norris to grab the lead and the British driver never looked back.

Crucially, Norris was able to pit during a safety car on lap 30, earning him a valuable time advantage which he never relinquished.

The safety car came after Kevin Magnussen clipped Logan Sargeant, sending the American Williams driver into the wall, bringing a yellow flag.

Lando Norris, who had 15 podiums before his first win, took full advantage of the safety car and with Verstappen struggling to catch up, he secured his maiden victory.

It was the first time Verstappen has been beaten on track, when he finished the race, since Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won in Singapore in September last year.

Norris was hoisted in the air by the McLaren mechanics as his long wait for a victory in the sport came to an end.

“About time huh?” said Norris, “I knew on Friday that we had the pace…today we managed to put it together. We had the perfect strategy, it all paid off,” he added.

“I guess a lot of people doubted me along the way. I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the last five years, my short career, but today we pulled it all together, so this is all for the team.

“I stuck with McLaren because I could believe in them and I did believe in them and today proved exactly that,” he added.

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The nearest Norris had come previously to winning a Grand Prix was in Sochi, Russia in 2021 when he led in the latter stages before failing to make a tyre change early in rain, costing him dearly.

Verstappen, who had complained about lack of grip in qualification and during Sunday’s race, said his Red Bull had been unable to keep up with Lando Norris once the McLaren driver switched to hard tyres.

“They just had more pace, Lando was flying. It was incredibly difficult for us, but on the bad days P2, I’ll take it right?

“I’m very happy for Lando, its been a long time coming and it’s not going to be his last one. He definitely deserves it,” said the Dutchman.

Leclerc echoed those sentiments.

“Very often he ran very close it but for one reason or another he didn’t make it. But today he did an incredible job and the whole weekend he has been on it,” said the Ferrari driver.

Sainz finished fourth with Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez in fifth place but the pair swapped places after stewards imposed a post-race penalty of five seconds on the Spaniard for his collision with Piastri.

Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished sixth and eighth with RB’s Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda ending seventh.

As in the first two years of the Miami Grand Prix, held around Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, the race attracted plenty of celebrities.

Former France international footballer and coach Zinedine Zidane, singer Ed Sheeran, Super Bowl winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes and former US President Donald Trump were among those spotted at the race. Trump visited the McLaren garage before the race.

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Verstappen comes from ninth on grid to win Miami Grand Prix

MIAMI GARDENS: World champion Max Verstappen powered from ninth on the grid to beat team-mate Sergio Perez and extend Red Bull’s all-conquering start to the season with victory at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

The win — Red Bull’s fifth from five races this season — extends Verstappen’s lead at the top of the standings to 14 points and follows his triumph in the inaugural Miami race last year.

The 1-2 for Red Bull is their fourth in five races so far this year as the team utterly dominate the sport leaving their rivals to battle for the third podium position.

Aston Martin’s Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso took third for his fourth podium in five races this season as he continues to enjoy his late career revival.

Verstappen had to work hard for his third victory of the campaign after his disappointing performance in Saturday’s qualifying left him in the middle of the grid.

But the speed of the Red Bull car, combined with smart decisions on tyres, meant that the Dutchman was able to quickly get himself in contention and then produce a late surge to beat his team-mate Perez, who remains second in the standings.

Perez, starting on pole, made the perfect start, racing clear of his rivals but Verstappen, on hard tyres, quickly moved through the field and took just 15 laps to reach second place behind his team-mate.

– ‘Very satisfying’ –

Perez pitted on lap 20 allowing Verstappen to take the lead but the Dutchman had to give that up when he went into the pits on lap 46, changing to the medium compound tyres and coming out 1.2 seconds behind.

It took just two laps for Verstappen, who won the inaugural Miami Grand Prix a year ago, to take advantage of his fresher tyres with better grip as, after a brief joust, he overtook the Mexican, on 25-lap-old tyres, to take the lead.

Verstappen’s 38th win for Red Bull equals the team record set by Sebastian Vettel and is the first time a driver has won from exactly ninth on the grid since Niki Lauda at the French Grand Prix in 1984.

“I took the cars off one by one and then I could stay out really long on the hard tyres and that’s where we I think made the difference,” said Verstappen.

“For sure winning a race from P9 is always very satisfying,” he said.

It was a disappointing day for Perez, who after his victory in Baku last week, had a great chance to win from pole but was left frustrated with the tyre choice.

“I think the medium initially was really poor. It wasn’t expected and that really compromised our pace,” said Perez.

“Then, in all honesty, I think Max had tremendous pace on that hard tyre and I have got to analyse what happened today because we simply didn’t have the pace,” he added.

Mercedes had some consolation at the end of a difficult week with George Russell taking fourth place ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and team-mate Lewis Hamilton finishing sixth.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had described the car as a “nasty piece of work” after qualifying but Russell was delighted with his fourth.

“I am feeling pumped to be honest because it has been a while since we had a good race like that where we made overtakes stick,” he said.

“I would have liked to have been three positions higher but we know the position we are as a team right now and P4 was the maximum today,” he added.

Charles Leclerc, who crashed late in qualifying and started seventh on the grid, finished in seventh place on another disappointing day for Ferrari.

“There’s really a lot of work to do,” said Leclerc, “We have a car that has a good feeling under ideal conditions, but as soon as you get away a bit it gets complicated. We need a more consistent car especially in the race.

“It’s a very difficult situation because you can fight in qualifying, but then in the race you have to accept that you are passed.”

The Alpine pair of French drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocan finished eighth and ninth with Dane Kevin Magnussen finishing tenth.

It was a tough debut in his homeland for American rookie Logan Sargeant of Williams who had to pit early after losing his front wing and ended last.

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Verstappen overcomes Leclerc to win the inaugural Miami Grand Prix

MIAMI: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen survived a miraculous late comeback from his Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc to win the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, here on Sunday.

Verstappen, who was looking favourite for an easy win after taking the lead in the ninth lap and passing Carlos Sainz and Leclerc of Ferrari on Turn One and Turn Two respectively, survived a late race assault from Leclerc.

The world champion was cruising to an easy win since then but a bizarre crash between McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly brought the safety car which brought Verstappen and Leclerc together and restarted the race with 10 laps to go.

 

Closing the field allowed Leclerc a second chance when his hopes seemed to be fading, and he gave it his all to recover the lead but Verstappen managed to break his challenge.

Verstappen’s triumph was his second in a row, the first by a driver this year, and it summarized his run of either winning or retiring this year.

 

Despite Perez having the advantage of fresh tyres after Red Bull pitted him for new medium tyres during the safety car interval, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz held on to third for the final podium place.

 

It is pertinent to mention here that Verstappen’s win has cut Leclerc’s championship lead to 19 points as the Ferrari driver still leads the chart with 104 points, whereas, Verstappen follows with 85.

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Miami Grand Prix: Leclerc edges past Russell to lead the practice session

MIAMI: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc inched past his Mercedes opponent George Russell by the barest of margin to lead the practice session of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, here on Friday.

The 24-year-old from Monaco clinched the top spot in the practice session clearing Merecedes’s Russell by a mere 0.071 seconds. He also clocked the best lap in one minute and 31.098 on soft tyres to outrun his opponents.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who has won two of his four races this season, temporarily led the standings until hitting the wall on a green track and spending most of the practice in the garage. He finished third fastest, 0.179s behind the leader Leclerc.

 

Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s teammate, finished fourth as the second Red Bull, ahead of Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, and Williams’ Alex Albon.

A seven-time champion Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton finished eighth after obtaining a late exemption to preserve his nose stud following the sport’s bling ban.

The final race of the ongoing Miami Grand Prix will contest during the early hours of Monday with Leclerc starting from the pole position.

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