For the first time in his career Lando Norris steps to the top of the podium and he looks, understandably, thrilled. A very popular winner: there are chants of “Lando” as he beams – and has a few tears – on the podium. A thoroughly deserved victory for the 24-year-old after eight second-places in his career.
Giles Richards’s full race report from Miami will be through shortly.
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Constructors' championship
Your top five:
1) Red Bull – 237 points
2) Ferrari – 189 points
3) McLaren Mercedes – 124 points
4) Mercedes – 64 points
5) Aston Martin – 42 points
Drivers' standings
Here’s your top five after today’s race. Max still looking fairly comfortable at the top:
1) Max Verstappen – 136 points
2) Sergio Perez – 101 points
3) Charles Leclerc – 98 points
4) Carlos Sainz – 85 points
5) Lando Norris – 83 points
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Top 10 finishers
1) Lando Norris (McLaren)
2) Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4) Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
5) Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
6) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
7) Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
8) George Russell (Mercedes)
9) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
10) Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
Max Verstappen speaks after his first defeat on track in 20 races.
“You win, you lose. Today was a bit tricky with the medium tyres. When I heard the lap times the McLarens were doing I thought, yeah that’s pretty quick … Lando was flying. I’m very happy for Lando, it’s been a long time coming and it’s not going to be his last [victory]. He definitely deserves it today.”
He’s asked what was wrong with his car today: “Understeer, oversteer just very low grip … we have a bit of work to do.”
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Norris is asked how it feels to win for the first time in F1: “About time, man. [Bad word deleted because this is a family website]. It’s been a long time coming but finally I’ve managed to do it. I’m so happy for my whole team, I’ve finally delivered for them. A shout out to my mum and dad of course … People doubted me along the way but today we put it all together.”
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Verstappen had won six consecutive races in the US … until today.
Everyone seems thrilled for Norris – including the other drivers. Ricciardo runs over to give him a hug.
Norris rushes over to the McLaren crew and jumps over the barriers and has a wee crowd surf as they hold him aloft.
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Norris thanks his mum and dad on the radio and says: “This one is for my grandma.”
Norris had a degree of fortune with the safety car today but he drove aggressively from the start to put himself in the position to gain the lead. And once he had the lead he held on to it brilliantly. He lets out a whoop of joy on the team radio: “I love you all,” he says. And, yes, he means you too.
Lando Norris wins the Miami Grand Prix
And Norris has his first-ever F1 victory! A close to flawless race from Norris who comes the 21st Briton to win an F1 race. Verstappen comes in second, with Leclerc in third.
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Lap 56/57: This shouldn’t hurt Verstappen too much if he comes second today: his overall lead in the championship is still large and he’s close to Norris, so there will be some degree of pleasure in seeing his friend win his first race.
Lap 55/57: Norris is extending his lead: the race is his barring disaster. Verstappen has a two-second lead over Leclerc for second place, so he looks fairly safe to finish just behind the Briton in first.
Lap 54/57: Three laps to go. Norris’s lead is 6.918 seconds.
Lap 53/57: Norris has been flawless since the restart of the race. Very few outward signs of nerves as he closes on his first GP victory. Albon is off the track but it doesn’t look like the safety car will make an appearance – good news for Norris.
Lap 52/57: Norris’s lead is now over six seconds with Verstappen in second. Five laps to go.
Lap 50/57: Some all-Aussie action as Piastri and Ricciardo battle for 16th. Ricciardo holds off his countryman for now. Team radio tells Piastri to calm down: they don’t want the safety car out, jeopardising his teammate Norris’s chance at a maiden victory.
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Lap 49/57: Nervous looks at McLaren but Norris extends his lead slightly to 5.691sec. Alonso gets Ocon in the end and the Spaniard is up to ninth. Here’s the top 10:
1) Norris
2) Verstappen
3) Leclerc
4) Sainz
5) Perez
6) Hamilton
7) Tsunoda
8) Russell
9) Alonso
10) Ocon
Lap 48/57: Verstappen chips into Norris’s lead but it’s a matter of tenths of a second, which won’t be enough at this stage. Norris leads by 5.220sec.
Lap 47/57: Alonso has a dart at Ocon in ninth but he can’t get past him.
Lap 45/57: Norris is very, very close to his first ever F1 victory, after 110 career starts. His lead is above five seconds now.
Lap 44/57: Norris’s lead nudges above four seconds for the first time since the race resumed.
Lap 43/57: The good news for Piastri: he’s just set the fastest lap. The bad news: he won’t get a world championship point for that because he’s not close enough to the leader (he’s last).
Lap 42/57: Norris is 3.319sec ahead of Verstappen in second. Your top 10:
1) Norris
2) Verstappen
3) Leclerc
4) Sainz
5) Perez
6) Hamilton
7) Tsunoda
8) Russell
9) Ocon
10) Alonso
Lap 41/57: Piastri has had a very bad few laps: Perez and Hamilton overtake him and he has damage to his front wing: he’ll have to pit. His challenge is almost certainly over. He reenters in 19th.
Lap 40/57: “I can’t get the car to turn, it’s a disaster,” says Verstappen on the team radio. Now F1 is not my No 1 sport, but I can drive and I can assure you that not being able to turn a car makes things tricky. Sainz overtakes Piastri into fourth. They’ve had a great battle today.
Lap 38/57: Norris is faster than Verstappen in all three sectors of the lap – the lead is now 2.590sec. Hamilton, on medium compounds, unlike most of the other top 10, is pretty fast in seventh and could move up the field.
Lap 37/57: Sainz and Piastri are having a battle for the Australian’s fourth place, the steward looked into whether Piastri held him off illegally but they say there is no case to answer. Norris’s lead is now up to two seconds.
Lap 35/57: Things are looking good for Norris, who has extended his lead to 1.5 seconds. This would be a big surprise if he can beat Verstappen on a track where he held pole and overtaking is very tricky.
Lap 34/57: The leaders after the safety car and pits:
1) Norris
2) Verstappen
3) Leclerc
4) Piastri
5) Sainz
6) Perez
7) Hamilton
Lap 33/57: The green flag is out aAd the safety car is done. Let’s see how Norris handles this. Norris holds off the champ for now – his tyres are five laps fresher than Verstappen. And Norris is now more than a second clear in first. If he can keep that gap then he should be able to nullify the threat of the DRS.
Lap 32/57: The safety car has done its job and the pack are assembled with Verstappen just behind Norris now, ready for the restart.
Lap 31/57: Magnussen has been given a 10-second penalty for the collision that ended Sargeant’s day.
Lap 31/57: Norris is in the lead after some good fortune with the safety car but I should say he has driven very well, and has the fastest lap today. He also has fresher tyres than Verstappen, which will help.
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Lap 30/57: Norris pits and comes back in the lead – some good fortune for him with the field slowed down thanks to the safety car. Norris is ahead of the pack and can extend his lead, this is very good timing for him.
Lap 28/57: Floridian Logan Sargeant has crashed out in his home race, a shame. And the safety car is out, which could play into Norris’s hands. Sargeant gets out of his car and appears to be fine.
Lap 27/57: Norris leads – presumably briefly – after Piastri and Sainz pit. Verstappen is 11 seconds behind in second. But Max should regain his lead when Norris goes into the pit.
Lap 26/57: Verstappen hitting that bollard on the chicane seems to have affected things for everyone: “It’s impossible to see the curb in the chicane,” says Hamilton on the team radio.
Lap 25/57: Verstappen is now on the hard tyres, which most people have switched to after starting on medium compounds. Norris has set a fastest lap, he’s in third.
Lap 24/57: Verstappen pits – it’s a nice rapid one – and Piastri leads for now. Doesn’t look like there was any damage from when max hit that cone as he’s in and out of the pit lane quickly. Verstappen is back on track in fourth place.
Lap 23/57: The virtual safety car is on after that cone drifted into the track. Someone will remove it – it could be dangerous if that flies into a car or the crowd. And the goal appears to have been achieved as the virtual safety car is now done.
Lap 22/57: A rare lapse from Verstappen who clips a bollard on a chicane but it bounces off into the middle of the track and doesn’t affect him too much. They may need the virtual safety car while they clear the debris.
Lap 20/57: Your Top 10:
1) Verstappen
2) Piastri
3) Sainz
4) Norris
5) Hamilton
6) Leclerc
7) Russell
8) Tsunoda
9) Perez
10) Ocon
Lap 19/57: Perez is into the pits and Norris moves up into fifth. Perez reenters in ninth. Verstappen’s lead is up to 3.5sec. Leclerc pits and reenters in sixth after a fast pit of just under two seconds.
Lap 18/57: Verstappen maintains his lead of just over three seconds.
Lap 17/57: Norris and Perez’s battle for fifth is the most interesting duel in this race so far. But Perez is holding his place for now.
Lap 16/57: Verstappen’s lead is just north of three seconds for the first time this race.
Lap 15/57: Everyone from Kevin Magnussen in 13th down is now on hard tyres and has pitted. Leclerc records the new fastest lap.
Lap 14/57: Norris has a nibble at Perez, who is sliding around a little in fifth but the Mexican driver holds him off.
Lap 13/57: Verstappen maintains a comfortable lead with a lead of 2.955sec and Piastri looks pretty settled in second too.
Lap 12/57: Russell gets past Hulkenberg at his second attempt and is into eighth, just behind Hamilton. Hulkenberg then pits. Lots of drivers going in early for tyre changes.
Lap 11/57: Alex Albon is the first driver to pit – he goes on to hard tyres. Russell tries to overtake Hulkenberg after Hamilton passes the German but he holds him off.
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Lap 10/57: Hamilton nips ahead of Hulkenberg. The top 10 so far:
1) Verstappen
2) Piastri
3) Leclerc
4) Sainz
5) Perez
6) Norris
7) Hamilton
8) Hulkenberg
9) Russell
10) Tsunoda
Lap 8/57: Perez is being investigated for a possible false start. Verstappen’s lead over Piastri is now up close to three seconds. And news come in: Perez is off the hook for that possible false start.
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Lap 7/57: Hamilton, who was down to 10th at one point, has fought back to eighth with some brave overtaking.
Lap 6/57: Verstappen may be managing his tyres in this heat because he has a decent lead – just over two seconds – but he’s not as far out as he is accustomed to.
Lap 4/57: Piastri is up to second! His best finish this season is fourth and he looks like he’ll better that today. Perez, who almost took out Verstappen on the opening turn of the race, has slipped to fifth.
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Lap 3/57: Piastri records the fastest lap of the race so far and is flying along. Verstappen has a lead of 1.877sec.
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Lap 2/57: Lewis Hamilton elected to start on hard tyres and he’s struggled for grip and is down from eighth to 10th.
Lap 1/57: Perez nearly takes out Verstappen on turn one but the world champion survives and is in the lead after the opening lap, it will be tough to catch him now. The big mover though is Oscar Piastri who flies up from sixth to third. Leclerc hangs on to second.
The main hope for the chasing pack is that Verstappen suffers a mishap on turn one on a track where it’s incredibly hard to overtake. We shall see how that pans out soon enough: the drivers are coming to the end of their formation lap.
The top 14 on the grid – apart from Lewis Hamilton – are all on medium compound tyres. It should be a one-stop race, with those drivers changing to hard later.
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Just a reminder that Max Verstappen has never lost in Miami. As if he needs the help.
The cameras flash to a mural of Ayrton Senna, who died 30 years ago this week. Here’s a tribute to the man and his legacy from our own Giles Richards:
We posted this earlier but a reminder once again of the starting grid:
1 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1min 27.241secs, 2 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:27.382, 3 Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari 1:27.455, 4 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:27.460, 5 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:27.594, 6 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:27.675, 7 George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.067, 8 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.107, 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 1:28.146, 10 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) RB 1:28.192, 11 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:28.222, 12 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:28.324, 13 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:28.371, 14 Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:28.413, 15 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:28.427, 16 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Kick Sauber 1:28.463, 17 Logan Sargeant (USA) Williams 1:28.487, 18 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) RB 1:28.617, 19 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:28.619, 20 Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Kick Sauber 1:28.824.
Daniel Ricciardo will start 20th on the grid: “I’m going to try and do something special,” he says. Which will be important considering where he’s starting.
Ferrari’s Frederic Vasseur tells Martin Brundle that the first lap will be important on a track where it’s hard to overtake: “We know track position will be crucial”.
Here comes Martin Brundle for the grid walk. He chats to Miami’s very own Camila Cabello who reveals she’s here because she likes “fast cars” – good choice to come to a Grand Prix. He swerves Patrick Mahomes though, clearly not a Kansas City Chiefs fan. Then Brundle avoids Zinedine Zidane because he can’t speak English – what’s he got against all-time sporting greats? Brundle then chats to Susie Wolff for a bit before observing Lewis Hamilton’s car has a large exhaust pipe – this is the kind of inside stuff you get when you’re on the grid.
Bernie Owen emails in with a prediction: “Here’s the result. Verstappen wins, the rest in any order you like 39 seconds plus behind. It’s so exciting.”
Seeing as this track is very hard to overtake on, Max is in pole and recent F1 history, you’re probably right.
Let’s look at some pictures of famous people! Ed Sheeran played a few songs before yesterday’s qualifying. Glad to see he’s wearing a cap, given his skin type – Miami is not a safe place for gingers
Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler earned $45m this season, making him one of the few people who can afford the hospitality package at this year’s GP. And he even got to look at some cars with it.
It’s hot in Miami (for a change) with temperatures at around 28C/82F with reports of tyres overheating on the track today. Ted Kravitz on ESPN reckons that means drivers will probably employ a one-stop strategy for today’s race, starting on medium tyres before going to the hard ones – that overheat the least – for the longer, second stretch.
Lando Norris is on ESPN answering very important questions, the first of which is: does he think he could take George Russell in a fight. He thinks he can: no doubt somewhere Jake Paul has seen who his next moneyspinning scheme will be against.
Just a quick reminder of our starting grid today. Plucky up and comer Max Verstappen is on pole, which may surprise you:
1 Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1min 27.241secs, 2 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1:27.382, 3 Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari 1:27.455, 4 Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:27.460, 5 Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren 1:27.594, 6 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren 1:27.675, 7 George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.067, 8 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:28.107, 9 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 1:28.146, 10 Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) RB 1:28.192, 11 Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:28.222, 12 Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:28.324, 13 Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:28.371, 14 Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:28.413, 15 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:28.427, 16 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Kick Sauber 1:28.463, 17 Logan Sargeant (USA) Williams 1:28.487, 18 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) RB 1:28.617, 19 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 1:28.619, 20 Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Kick Sauber 1:28.824.
Tom will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how qualifying went on Saturday:
Max Verstappen remained determinedly very much on top of qualifying, continuing his unbeaten record for the season with another comfortable pole for the Miami Grand Prix. But in his wake Fernando Alonso is set to square up with Formula One’s governing body, the FIA. Alonso was angry and frustrated that they had failed to punish Lewis Hamilton after a controversial incident in Saturday morning’s sprint, claiming Hamilton had “ruined a lot of people’s races”.
For Sunday’s GP Verstappen once more holds all the cards with his sixth consecutive pole this season, beating the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz into second and third by just over a tenth of a second, having already taken victory in the sprint race.
He won the 100km dash with relative ease from pole to flag in what was something of a procession enlivened by an incident at the opening corner. Hamilton made an opportunistic move up the inside at turn one from the start, a dive that caused Alonso to clatter into his teammate, Lance Stroll, who then collected Lando Norris’s McLaren and took him out of the race.
You can read the full article below:
