Miami Grand Prix – Norris tricks Verstappen and takes his first win – Sports

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• 1. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren)
• 2. Max Verstappen (Netherlands/Red Bull)
• 3. Charles Leclerc (Moon/Ferrari)

At McLaren, they made their claims unreserved before the start of the season. Their goal was nothing less than victories. They were convinced they could take on Max Verstappen under the ideal situation.

These ideal conditions now existed in Miami. At the first opportunity, Lando Norris provided evidence that the technicians were moving in the right direction when making radical modifications to the car. The latest full release was only available to English people this weekend in Florida. His teammate Oscar Piastri has had to settle for a partial substitution for the time being.

Norris uses the safety car phase

The decisive scene during the safety car phase occurred about halfway through the workload. Neutralizing the race became necessary after the collision between Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant. Norris used the time when the lead car sets the minimum speed to stop to change tires. Reducing downtime allowed the Briton to return to the track as leader.

Anyone who thought five-time winner Verstappen would go toe-to-toe with Norris was disappointed. The Briton, who had never won in 109 Formula 1 starts, immediately pulled away from the Dutch world champion and continued to pull away from him lap after lap. In the end, Norris celebrated his first victory by just under 8 seconds.

Verstappen, who once again said he did not feel comfortable in his car (radio message), had to settle for second place. So far this season, the world champion has only failed to win in Australia due to a glitch. Behind Verstappen, Charles Leclerc took third place on the podium in a Ferrari, just ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz.

Chu made gains on the anniversary

Once again, there were no points for the Sauber race team, but at least Guanyu Zhou had a successful anniversary to celebrate. In the 50th Grand Prix for the Henwell Racing Team, the Chinese improved from 19th on the grid to 14th as his teammate Valtteri Bottas came in 17th.

And this is how it continues

After the weekend, the Formula 1 European Tour continues in two weeks. First, there's the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola (17-19 May), then we move on to the prestigious race in Monaco (24-26 May).