Norris beat Verstappen by 7s, after benefiting from making his single pitstop under a safety car – unlike his rivals – for a clash between Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant.
Verstappen had won both previous Miami GPs but had already made his pitstop when the safety car was required. He earlier caused a virtual safety car of his own by hitting and dislodging the bollard at Turn 15, and admitted he struggled to get his car to turn.
It was just the second time Verstappen had been beaten in 2024, having retired from the Australian GP won by Carlos Sainz due to a brake problem.
“I mean, you win, you lose,” Verstappen told Sky. “I think we're all used to that in racing, right?
“Today was just a bit tricky. I think already on the mediums, I didn't feel fantastic. We were pulling away but not like it should be.
“And then once we made the pitstop and I heard what lap times that McLaren were doing I thought, ‘Wow, that's pretty quick.’ Once they also switched on to the hard tyre, they just had more pace, and especially Lando, he was flying. It was incredibly difficult for us on that stint.
“But if a bad day is P2, I take it. And I'm very happy for Lando. It's been a long time coming. And it's not going to be his last one so yeah, he definitely deserves it today.”
When asked if McLaren’s updated car was reflective of its true pace, he replied: “I hope not!
“I mean, they came with an upgrade. Yeah, for sure, it looks like it works. So, we have a bit of work to do from our side.
“Definitely, it wasn't our strongest weekend in terms of race pace, but we'll analyze it all and we'll try to come back.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who finished 2s behind Verstappen in third, also praised Norris for an “incredible job”.
“I'm really happy for Lando,” said Leclerc. “He deserves it. Often, he arrived very close to it but for one reason or another he didn't make it, but today he did an incredible job.
“The whole weekend he has been on it and already in Q2, I think there was a lap where I was like, 'OK, they are very, very strong'.
“And we were expecting them to be strong, maybe not as strong as what they've shown today. But he fully deserves it.”
