Norris takes his maiden F1 victory in Miami

Lando Norris got his first victory in Formula 1 in his 110th race with a sensational drive and with a bit of luck due to the safety car and beat Max Verstappen by more than seven seconds while Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari.

Norris started fifth on medium tyres and stayed the longest on the track and drove a series of impressive laps with which he was faster than Verstappen on the new hard, and when the safety car came out on the track due to the Magnussen and Sargeant incident, Norris got an opportunity that he wouldn’t miss.

When the race resumed at the end of the lap 32, Norris had no problem sprinting away from Verstappen by more than a second and by the end of the race he was only increasing his advantage on his way to his first victory.

Verstappen kept the lead at the start of the race, Leclerc had a bad start, and Perez had a great start, which he used to try to make up positions by braking late on the inside of the first turn.

But Perez missed the braking point and almost hit Verstappen, forcing him to cut the corner and blocking the inside line.

Piastri got off to a great start, surged on the outside of Turn 1 and made his way to third place behind Verstappen and Leclerc, and after a few laps he managed to overtake the Ferrari driver and take second place.

Verstappen was not able to escape to the usual advantage, but Piastri kept up well and was less than three seconds behind after twenty laps.

Perez held off Norris and pitted first from the leaders, switching to medium hard, and Leclerc did the same two laps later.

Verstappen picked up a cone at the top of Turn 15 on Lap 20 and brought it onto the straight after Turn 16 which prompted Virtual Safety Car conditions on Lap 23, but the Dutchman failed to take advantage of them and make the tyre change he did during the green flag .

Piastri and Sainz pitted four laps later which left Norris in the lead, and although he was on significantly worn tyres it didn’t stop him from being the fastest man on track.

Then came the pivotal moment of the race with Magnussen and Sargeant colliding at turn two which brought out the safety car, and Norris made the change from medium to hard and began to build a lead when the race restarted at the end of lap 32.

In the end, Norris won with 7.6 seconds ahead of Verstappen and returned the title of the driver with the most podiums without a win to Nick Heidfeld (13 podiums), and Leclerc finished third with 9.9 behind Norris.

Sainz had a heated battle with Piastri in which Piastri damaged his front wing, had to pit and fell to the back, and Sainz managed to finish fourth.

Perez could not do better than fifth place in the second Red Bull, and Hamilton was sixth after starting on hard tyres and late pressure on Perez, which did not bear fruit.

Tsunoda scored a valuable six points for RB in seventh place, moving him to tenth in the drivers’ standings, with Russell eighth in the Mercedes.

Alonso was able to overtake Ocon in the closing stages of the race for ninth place, but Ocon can be pleased to have scored the final point of today’s race, Alpine’s first of the season.

The next race will be held in Imola in two weeks.

MIAMI GP RESULTS

Fastest lap: Oscar Piastri – 1:30.634 (lap 43)

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 6/24 RACES

CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP