What a stunt! Lando Norris in seventh heaven after victory in Miami, Max Verstappen second | formula 1

Charles Leclerc had speculated aloud on Saturday about a possible dream start in which he would overtake Max Verstappen and come out of the first corner first. Ferrari’s Monegasque hoped for it fervently and did not consider it impossible, especially since his teammate Carlos Sainz was diagonally behind him and could also put pressure on the Dutchman.

Moreover, Verstappen had been expressing his doubts all weekend about the performance of his Red Bull in the treacherous conditions in warm south Florida. But the world champion often makes comments about his performance in the early stages of a race weekend. He usually wins after all. As now also in the sprint qualifying, the sprint race and the qualifying of the Grand Prix of Miami.

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McLaren driver Lando Norris recently aptly analyzed the way Verstappen maneuvers through a weekend. In Japan, the Briton indicated that he did not believe much in the words of the world champion, who wondered aloud whether he would find the right speed in the race to beat his competitors. “He often says that, but for years Red Bull has always found something extra on the day of the race and they can’t keep up,” Norris noted.

It seemed to be the case in Miami as well. Also because the previously hopeful Leclerc messed up his start. His stiff first meters and a kamikaze action by Sergio Pérez in the first corner caused chaos behind the Dutchman, resulting in him almost immediately having a safe margin over the rest of the field.

But unlike normal, the race went far from smoothly for the world champion. Although he initially didn’t feel any pressure from the cars behind him, he had a rare precarious moment. He choked in one of the corner combinations on the circuit in Miami and rammed a post. However, the incident did not cause him any damage, so he could breathe a sigh of relief.

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However, a collision between Williams driver Logan Sargeant and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen still caused Verstappen problems. It resulted in a safety car and that gave Norris, who was leading the race because unlike the other top drivers he had not yet made a pit stop at that time, the opportunity to save time with his tire change. He and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri already made a good impression before that moment and so Norris suddenly became a very serious threat to Verstappen.

Norris: ‘It all came together today’
“It’s about time, isn’t it? What a race,” said a delirious Lando Norris, who received congratulations from almost all his competitors, afterwards. “Finally I did it and delivered for the team. I’m over the moon! I already knew on Friday that we had the speed. I made some mistakes here and there, but today it all came together. I would like to thank the whole team, but especially my father and mother.”

Max Verstappen wholeheartedly wished his good friend the scoop, although he would of course have preferred to win himself. “But sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, we are all used to that. Today was ordinary tricky“, said the Dutchman, who suffered a lot from understeer throughout the race. “It didn’t feel fantastic on the mediums and when I heard after the pit stops what lap times McLaren was driving, I thought: wow. Lando really flew over the circuit. He deserves this.”

He became a threat mainly because the Briton was simply faster than the Dutchman in the future. Norris steadily drove away from Verstappen and soon had a safe margin. In the meantime, Verstappen complained again about his car. “I can’t turn the car in, it’s a disaster,” he said over the on-board radio.

And although the Ferraris ultimately could not challenge him, Norris showed that Verstappen can indeed be beaten if all goes well. The very man who cynically emphasized a few weeks ago that Red Bull and Verstappen always get up at the right time was the one who defeated the world champion when that didn’t work out. It gave the Brit the first grand prix victory of his career and it gave the rest of Verstappen’s competitors a glimmer of hope.

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