The Formula 1 race in Miami was perhaps the best in recent years. He had everything. I haven’t watched a race like this, with my soul in my mouth, since the 2021 final between Hamilton and Verstappen.
Norris won, earning his first victory. More importantly, he won honestly, being faster than Verstappen. It seems to me that he thus proved that Verstappen can be beaten. He won a fight, and the fate of the war I don’t think will change, but it shows that the battle at the top will probably be more and more thrilling and enjoyable for us viewers.
Buckle up, this is a long article, a lot has happened in the last two weeks.
BEFORE THE RACE
Hulkenberg is the first driver contracted by Audi for 2025. He will move from Haas to Kick Sauber, which in 2026 will become Audi. That means at least one of Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will leave the Sauber team. My guess is that Bottas has the best chance to walk away from the competition, with Zhou bringing the Chinese audience with him.
It is also possible that Sainz or another good driver will end up at Kick Sauber. Audi will probably want a good line-up for 2026, when it enters the competition under its own name and the technical regulations also change.
Adrian Newey has announced that he is leaving Red Bull. The man has designed several world championship-winning cars for various teams in his career and is seen as one of the best technical experts in Formula 1. Red Bull has confirmed his departure at the end of 2024.
Newey stated that he has no plans to move to another team at this time. He wants a sabbatical with his wife, maybe a motorhome and drive around France. However, he is already courted by almost all F1 teams, including Williams. He is likely to go to Ferrari if the Italians want him, with Newey previously saying he regrets never working for the Italian team, nor with Hamilton. In 2025 or 2026 they could have both.
Speaking of Italians, Ferrari has entered into an extensive partnership with HP, the official name now being Scuderia Ferrari HP. Presumably the pilots got unlimited ink now too.
McLaren brought technical upgrades to Miami, with their car now even faster. Norris won the race, you already know that, but he also had very good times in qualifying. McLaren looks like Ferrari’s equal at the moment.
Then there are rumors that Sargeant could be replaced during the 2024 season by Kimi Antonelli. This is a young Mercedes driver, considered to be the future, and Williams has a good partnership with Mercedes. Sargeant does not produce points for them. It brings American audiences to F1, but the sponsors also want points. Antonelli, who could be a new Hamilton, has a better chance of bringing them.
Last but not least, in the photo below is Ayrton Senna. On May 1, it was 30 years since his death on the Imola circuit. He had 3 active world championship titles and is considered one of the best drivers in history.
SPRINT RACE
Miami also had the Sprint race. Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez went first and finished in the same order.
Ricciardo made a nice impression by qualifying 4th for the Sprint and also finishing 4th. Other drivers were unlucky. The only Mercedes driver who could have taken points in the Sprint was Hamilton, who climbed as high as 7th before being penalized for an incident, which took him out of the points. Both Aston Martin drivers also finished without points.
There was another scandal here. Magnussen intentionally delayed the column of drivers behind him or, rather, even made illegals in order not to be overtaken. That earned him three penalties of 10 seconds each, but his team-mate Hulkenberg was able to distance himself and take the points.
It was said after the race that the regulation is not well made enough for such situations. In vain you penalize with extra seconds a pilot who has no chance of points. It should be easier to ban the next race, it was said.
IN QUALIFICATIONS
Qualifying did not foreshadow what was to come in the race. Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz and Perez qualified on the first places, followed by McLaren and Mercedes. Hulkenberg and Tsunoda moved up into the top 10, which was a pleasant surprise.
Ricciardo did not confirm his Sprint form, qualifying among the last for the big race.
RACE
The race was contested from the start, with many overtaking throughout the peloton. Piastri gained a few positions at the start, finishing 3rd and then overtaking Leclerc for 2nd. Verstappen was unable to break away significantly, having only a few seconds lead.
There were then several key moments that led to Norris’ victory. One of them was the fact that Verstappen missed a turn and destroyed a small bollard placed on top of it.
It took a Virtual Safety Car to get him off the track, but the VSC only lasted about half a lap. Some drivers took advantage of this, changing tires because they were close to the pit entrance. Those on the opposite side of the circuit didn’t get to trade with the advantage of a VSC slowing down the rest of the platoon. That changed the pecking order a bit.
Norris took first place after the drivers in front of him went in for tire changes in the race. Verstappen also changed, but since he didn’t have a big lead, he ended up on the circuit in 4th place.
Then, on lap 28, Magnussen caught Sargeant and a normal Safety Car appeared. Norris was advantaged because he changed under the safety car and came out on the circuit in front of Verstappen. The platoon was compacted by the safety car, and at the restart the Miami miracle happened: Norris was faster.
The drivers went virtually side by side, Verstappen was 0.169 seconds behind Norris. Although his tires were a few laps older, I expected him to overtake the Brit. That didn’t happen. Norris was faster, opening a second gap in 2 laps, then increasing his lead to 7 seconds by the end of the race, winning for the first time.
Verstappen finished 2nd, Leclerc 3rd, followed by Perez and Sainz. Hamilton moved up nicely through the peloton throughout the race to finish 6th, followed by Tsunoda, a pleasant surprise 7th, ahead of Russell. Ocon also took Alpine’s first point of the season.
The last few laps kept me breathless. There were all kinds of overtaking on the circuit and any of them could have resulted in a new hook and a safety car. Had such an incident occurred, Norris may have lost 1st place.
The big loser was Piastri. From 2nd place in the race, after that safety car and the compaction of the peloton, he had a small collision with Sainz. His front wing had to be replaced, which dropped him to the back of the pack.
Norris was faster. Verstappen says he didn’t have good grip, but a driver behind always lacks something from the driver in front, otherwise the positions would be reversed.
Norris also brought a well-deserved victory for the McLaren team, which thus sees all the improvements made since mid-2023 confirmed. It is their second win in 12 years, after Ricciardo won a lucky grand prix in 2021. It’s the win that also breaks a long Red Bull winning streak. It may be the only non-Red Bull win this year, but the important thing is that it shows that something like this is possible, and also brings McLaren into direct contention with Ferrari for 2nd place in the standings.
I also liked the wave of congratulations Norris received as soon as he parked the car. You could feel not only the joy of others for Norris, who has been waiting for this victory for several years, but also the joy that someone interrupted the Red Bull combo.
The Good:
- Norris entering the very small circle (at least in recent years) of race winners.
- Hulkenberg finished the Sprint in points.
The Bad:
- Magnussen who had unsportsmanlike conduct.
- Sainz who ruined Piastri’s chances of a good ranking. He received a 5-second penalty after the race, which dropped him from 4th to 5th in the final standings, but Piastri’s still-damaged race remained.
- Perez who, at the start, passed like a bowling ball between Verstappen and the two Ferraris, a serious accident being avoided only by sheer luck and inches away.
- Aston Martin walked away with 2 points from this weekend.
STANDINGS
Leclerc got closer to Perez and an interesting battle will be here between Perez, Leclerc, Norris and Sainz.
Piastri instead looks destined for a battle in the second part of the top 10 with Alonso, Hamilton and Russell. The funny thing is that Bearman, despite only driving one race for Ferrari, is 12th overall.
In the teams, Alpine took a point and now only Williams and Sauber are on zero. My view is that McLaren could close the gap on Ferrari and fight them for 2nd place overall, unless the Italian team comes up with their own performance-enhancing upgrades.
From the top 5 teams, you can see how two groups are separated, like in cycling. Group Red Bull – Ferrari – McLaren and then Mercedes – Aston Martin. To top it off, McLaren uses a Mercedes engine, but you can see how much the aerodynamics and stability of the single-seater actually matter.
Next race: Emilia Romagna, on the circuit of Imola, Italy, on May 19.
Tags: Formula Miami Norris wins Verstappen thrilling race lap
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