The first victory in his F1 career on the Miami track was won by Lando Norris, who took the lead after a visit to the pits, which the “McLaren” pilot had to do after the safety car was on the track. Max Verstappen was in the lead for a long time, but was forced to settle for second place at the finish. Charles Leclair took the third place in the sixth stage of the season.
Verstappen made a great start from pole position, while his teammate Sergio Perez went too fast in the first corner, locked his wheels and narrowly avoided a collision with his rivals, losing several positions. Leclerc held on to second place, but Oscar Piastri took advantage of the situation, overtaking Carlos Sainz and moving into fourth place. Perez had fallen behind Norris, but moved up to fifth in the first lap. Nico Hilkenberg managed to overtake Lewis Hamilton in the battle for seventh place, while the Alpine pilots had a very intense duel, driving close to each other for many corners.
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⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️THE HEAT IS ON IN MIAMI!! 🔥
Perez overshoots Turn 1, Leclerc keeps second and LANDO NORRIS charges up to P3! #F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/W5yI9Z9Jsn
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2024
Within a few laps, Verstappen had established a lead of a couple of seconds over his closest followers. Piastri drove closely behind LeClair and in the fourth lap the McLaren driver overtook him, moving up to second place. Sainz drove closely behind his teammate in the following laps. Hamilton regained seventh position on the seventh lap, then made a braking error and lost it, only to overtake Hilkenberg again later. George Russell overtook the driver of the Haas team on the 12th lap, but soon Hilkenberg was one of the first to make a pit stop.
Among the leading drivers, at the end of the 17th lap, Perez was the first to go to the pits, who had been chased by Norris for some time, but in the 19th lap, after new tires, Leclair entered, who at that time was not far behind Piastri and had been building a lead of a few seconds over Sainz for some time. Meanwhile, Verstappen steadily continued to distance himself from his rivals.
On lap 22, Verstappen made a mistake by cutting one of the corners short and knocking down the post there on the way. His front wing didn’t look hurt. Meanwhile, a virtual safety car period was briefly called in to collect debris from the track, after which the leader pitted at the end of lap 23.
On the 28th lap, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargent did not share the track, as a result of which the Williams driver crashed into the barrier with the rear. Magnussen was found guilty of the incident and received a ten-second penalty.
LAP 29 / 57
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED! ⚠️
Magnussen and Sargeant collide at Turn 3 and the Williams is in the barriers!
This is a golden opportunity for Norris to get time back against Verstappen! 😱#F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/Iae8Vmz2fi
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2024
At that time, only Norris had left the leading drivers in the pits, who took the lead, but now after changing the tires he was able to maintain the leading position. Great development for the McLaren driver! His team-mate Piastri was in the lead for a while before that, but pitted and fell behind Leclair. Perez, meanwhile, used the safety car period to pit for the second time.
After the safety car went into the pits, the leader Norris was followed by Verstappen and Leclair, Piastri was fourth, and Sainz and Perez drove further. Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda had gotten ahead of the two Mercedes drivers and took the seventh position.
Verstappen came dangerously close on the restart but held on to second place. Norris was then able to extend the lead. Meanwhile, Sainz tried to overtake Piastri, but the pilot in front did not give up, pushed the Ferrari pilot off the track and the wheels of the two even slightly collided. The judges investigated the situation, but found Piastri not guilty. Hamilton meanwhile overtook Cunoda in the battle for seventh place.
Piastri’s continuation of the race was not successful. Sainz aggressively tried to overtake his rival and in the corner his rear wheel slid onto the front wing of the McLaren, spoiling his rival’s chances of getting a good position. Piastri was forced to pit, which dropped him to the final stretch. Sainz complained that his car also had problems due to a loss of downforce. On the other hand, Norris, who received an improved car for this weekend, was already almost four seconds ahead of Verstappen with 15 laps to go.
LAP 40 / 57
The stewards rule no further action, so Sainz takes fourth from Piastri the old-fashioned way – on track! 🍿#F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/xdhivddteS
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2024
As the finish approached, it became more and more clear that Verstappen would not be able to fight for victory. Norris pulled away and finished ahead of everyone, beating the season leader by more than seven seconds. Leclerc took third place, Sainz took fourth, and Perez and Hamilton finished further. Behind them, Tsunoda and George Russell finished the race, while Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon scored the last points. “Alpine” managed to get the first point of the season.
For Norris, this is the first victory in his F1 career. The last victory in car racing was won by the British pilot in 2018, when he was still competing in “Formula 2”. On the other hand, “McLaren” had its last F1 victory in 2021, when Daniel Ricciardo finished first in the Monza stage.
The F1 championship will continue in two weeks, when the seventh stage of the season – the Emilia Romagna GP – will take place on the Imola track on May 19.
Miami GP Results:
2024-05-05 21:42:31
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