Max Verstappen backs 'flying' Norris for MORE F1 wins - Miami top three verdict

Lando Norris, McLaren, Miami, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Miami Grand Prix

Verstappen backs 'flying' Norris for MORE F1 wins - Miami top three verdict

Here is what the top three had to say following the Miami Grand Prix

By Sheona Mountford.

Monday 6 May 2024 04:00

An electric Miami Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen beaten on track for the first time in 2024, with Lando Norris consigning the reigning world champion to the second spot on the podium with a truly stunning drive.

The British driver took advantage of a cheap pitstop during a safety car to position himself just ahead of Verstappen, and simply drove away from the championship leader to the flag.

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The Brit held off Verstappen following the safety car restart, extending his lead to finish over seven seconds ahead of the Dutch driver.

McLaren dedicated their race win to their former sporting director Gil de Ferran, who passed away at the end of last year.

Lando Norris

“Oh wow. About time huh? F***. Sorry! About time! What a race. It's been a long time coming. Finally I've managed to do it. I'm so happy for my whole team. I finally delivered for them. Long day, tough race. Finally on top, so I'm over the moon.

"The whole weekend has been good. I've had some little setbacks along the way but I knew on Friday we had the pace. Just a couple mistakes here and there. Today we managed to put it together. We did the perfect strategy and it all paid off."

"Thanks to McLaren, everyone. I'll give a shout out to my mum and dad of course."

On his message for McLaren, he added: "I'm just proud. A lot of people doubted me along the way. I've made a lot of mistakes over my last five years in my short career but today we put it altogether.

"This is all for the team. I stuck with McLaren because I could believe in them and do believe in them. Today we proved exactly that."

Max Verstappen

"You win, you lose. I think we’re all used to that in racing, right? Today was just a bit tricky. I think already on the mediums, it didn’t feel fantastic. We were pulling away but not like it should be and once we made the pit stop and I heard the lap times the McLarens were doing, I was like, ‘wow, that’s pretty quick'.

"Once they switched onto 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.

"I’m very happy for Lando. It’s been a long time coming and it’s not going to be his last one, so he definitely deserves it today. I mean understeer, oversteer, just very low grip on four wheels, and that’s something that we have to understand.

"They came with an upgrade. For sure it looks like it works, right? So we have a bit of work to do from our side. I think definitely it wasn’t our strongest weekend in terms of race pace, but we’ll analyse it all and we’ll try to come back stronger from it."

Charles Leclerc

"It was very tricky at the start. Checo was on my inside. I didn't get a very good start, as soon as I left, I had wheelspin. I saw Checo on the right but there was very little grip, so he locked up.

"I thought we would all crash but unfortunately for everybody we all got out of the first corner. Then it was all about trying to focus on ourselves. But today, again, we were missing a little bit of pace.

"We did our best but the timing of the safety car wasn't great for us and we had the oldest tyres. But we managed everything quite well and P3 was the best we could do and we are satisfied with that."

Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

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Max Verstappen McLaren Lando Norris Miami Grand Prix