Formula 1 – Miami Grand Prix recap: Lando Norris claims his first victory ahead of Max Verstappen in front of A-Listers, including Donald Trump on star-studded race weekend

Congratulations to Lando Norris and McLaren on their fantastic accomplishment in South Florida.

Thank you all for following along, have a great rest of your Sunday

And he deserves every bit of it

As if it could be anyone else?

What started with frustration on Saturday, turned into elation on Sunday

Here’s the results for everyone who scored points

1. Lando Norris, McLaren 1:30:49.876
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull +7.612
3. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +9.920
4. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari +11.407
5. Sergio Perez, Red Bull +14.650
6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes +16.585
7. Yuki Tsunoda, VCARB +26.185
8. George Russell, Mercedes +34.789
9. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +37.107
10. Esteban Ocon, Alpine +39.746

“I’m very happy for Lando, it’s been a long time coming, and it’s not gonna be his last one”

He hugs his McLaren crew people as he celebrates the victory

2022: Pole – Leclerc, Winner – Verstappen

2023: Pole – Perez, Winner – Verstappen

2024: Pole – Verstappen, Winner – Norris

Verstappen was 7.6 seconds behind the race winner. An unbelievable gap to Norris.

Lando Norris has fulfilled his promise to win a grand prix in a McLaren! The papaya team has done it! Lando has done it! He can now call himself a F1 Grand Prix winner!

This is something that will surely bring a smile to many Formula One fans’ faces

Albon was able to spin his car around to keep going and avoid a safety car, but you can imagine the McLaren fans were a bit concerned for a second

Can Lando keep his nerve here for the final few laps?

That was a tasty little battle between the two former teammates

Will Norris be able to hold on for the final few laps?

It could all be happening for Lando in Miami

In replacing his front wing, he switches over to mediums and is going faster than everyone else on the track despite being in P19

1. NOR
2. VER
3. LEC
4. SAI
5. PER
6. HAM
7. TSU
8. RUS
9. OCO
10. ALO
11. GAS
12. HUL
13. ALB
14. ZHO
15. RIC
16. STR
17. BOT
18. MAG
19. PIA
20. SAR – out

He’s got an advantage of nearly three-and-a-half seconds over Verstappen

Call this a bit of Sargeant’s Revenge?

McLaren is telling him to pit due to front wing damage, an awful result for Piastri

The Aussie loses his place to the Ferrari driver, but then takes it back on the pit straight!

He’s complaining about being unable to turn the car – which might explain the 2.8sec gap

Here’s your top ten so far

1. NOR
2. VER
3. LEC
4. PIA
5. SAI
6. PER
7. HAM
8. TSU
9. RUS
10. OCO

A bit of a surprise there, to be honest. The Spaniard’s just going to have to keep working on gettting past the Aussie.

It’s a gap of nearly two seconds now as Norris keeps growing that gap over the Red Bull

Yeah Piastri’s probably going to have to give the place back on this one

Regardless of the lead, Norris has Verstappen out of DRS range

Norris is able to hold Verstappen off on the straight

This should be great fun between Norris and Verstappen

The stewards say that the wreck with Sargeant was Magnussen’s fault

Lando took the lead after Piastri boxed for hards and thanks to the safety car, he gets a free pit stop.

1. NOR
2. VER
3. LEC
4. PIA
5. SAI
6. PER
7. TSU
8. HAM
9. RUS
10. OCO
11. ALO
12. GAS
13. ALB
14. ZHO
15. RIC
16. HUL
17. STR
18. BOT
19. MAG
20. SAR – out

Sargeant’s off the track and into the wall and his home grand prix has ended in disaster.

The blame for that wreck might lie on Kevin Magnussen. Logan tried to get back onto the racing line and K-Mag sent it up the inside after turn two and spun the Williams off the track.

1. PIA
2. SAI
3. NOR
4. VER
5. LEC
6. HAM
7. RUS
8. PER
9. TSU
10. ZHO
11. RIC
12. OCO
13. HUL
14. ALO
15. GAS
16. STR
17. ALB
18. SAR
19. MAG
20. BOT

Verstappen heads into the pits for hard tires giving Piastri the lead

Everone’s going to slow down a bit so the stewards can take care of things

The Ferrari on a fresher set of hards is able to tightly cruise past Hamilton.

Meanwhile, there’s a bollard on the track just before the start of the back straight after Verstappen went off the road at the chicane and ran straight through the cone. It’s not clear why there’s not a safety car yet, it’s a dangerous part of the track

1. VER
2. PIA
3. SAI
4. NOR
5. HAM
6. LEC
7. RUS
8. TSU
9. PER
10. OCO
11. ALO
12. ZHO
13. MAG
14. RIC
15. HUL
16. GAS
17. STR
18. ALB
19. SAR
20. BOT

Hamilton did so a while ago, but Perez just recently stopped for new hards. Leclerc goes for the hards on lap 20.

But those cars are all at the back. The undercut isn’t looking that good right about now.

A number of cars have pitted for hard tires, so here’s how the grid currently looks

1. VER
2. PIA
3. LEC
4. SAI
5. PER
6. NOR
7. HAM
8. RUS
9. TSU
10. OCO
11. ALO
12. ZHO
13. MAG
14. RIC
15. HUL
16. GAS
17. STR
18. ALB
19. SAR
20. BOT

Hulkenberg heads into the pits to swap for hards alongside a number of others

The hard compound could theoretically last the entirety of the race but that’s something no one can obviously do.

Albon’s the first guinea pig to try things out.

Hamilton was able to hold off the Haas machine as Nico was fighting George Russell – who was on his tail with DRS on the back straight

1. VER
2. PIA
3. LEC
4. SAI
5. PER
6. NOR
7. HUL
8. HAM
9. RUS
10. TSU
11. STR
12. GAS
13. ALO
14. ALB
15. OCO
16. SAR
17. ZHO
18. BOT
19. MAG
20. RIC

The decision just got handed down by the stewards

Lewis is still stuck behind Hulkenberg as he struggles to get past the Haas

The Red Bull may have jumped early off the line

An amazing move by the Aussie to go alongside Leclerc and then use the length of his car at the apex to force his way ahead up the inside into P2

1. VER
2. PIA
3. LEC
4. SAI
5. PER
6. NOR
7. HUL
8. HAM
9. TSU
10. RUS

Not that Sergio Perez didn’t try his hardest to cause havoc on the first turn, but we’re free of a wreck so far this race.

Verstappen got a great start out of the gate and he’s 1.5 seconds ahead of Leclerc in second place

The Briton is struggling with the Japanese star behind him and isn’t able to get past the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg

Gasly and Ocon aren’t playing nice

We almost had absolute chaos as Perez nearly clipped the back of Verstappen and went directly across the Ferraris and off the track before re-joining in fourth

This first corner has been a bit of a tricky one in the past, so let’s see if it rears its ugly head again

Any minute now, we’ll see the five lights on and then off

Get yourselves comfortable for what should be a very interesting race

Less than 10 minutes to go!

The drivers are making their way to the grid

Max Verstappen takes a picture alongside Lisa from the K-Pop supergroup BLACKPINK while Charles Leclerc is seen with British songwriter Ed Sheeran

No signs of his better half though…

The former president was seen chatting with McLaren CEO Zak Brown before the race proceedings got underway.

Trump’s had some controversy around him when it comes to this race specifically – as a $250,000/person fundraiser in his name was shut down before the race started. You can read more about that in the link below.

There’s been some penalties added on – leading to a bit of a jumble toward the back of the pack.

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
4. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
5. Lando Norris, McLaren
6. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
7. George Russell, Mercedes
8. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
10. Yuki Tsunoda, VCARB
11. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
12. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
13. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
14. Alex Albon, Williams
15. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
16. Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
17. Logan Sargeant, Willaims
18. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
19. Zhou Guanyu, Sauber
20. Daniel Ricciardo, VCARB

It’s cloudy over in London and rainy here in New York City, but it’s much better weather down in Miami with clouds in the sky but it’s 81°F outside