Norris added his name to the list of Formula 1 race winners with a sensational breakthrough victory.

McLaren driver Lando Norris made history at the Miami Grand Prix by clinching his first Formula 1 race win in spectacular fashion on Sunday. In a thrilling showdown, Norris surged ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to claim the coveted chequered flag.

It had been a relatively quiet start to the race for Norris, who had lined up in P5 on the grid. However, he pushed to the lead when a Safety Car was called on Lap 29 of 57 following a collision between Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen, allowing him to make a well-timed pit stop and emerge back on track in P1. From there he maintained a gap to Max Verstappen in second and crossed the line to take his debut win in the sport, five years after arriving in F1 with McLaren.

Verstappen settled for second place, facing challenges with his car’s balance, while Charles Leclerc secured the final spot on the podium ahead of Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez of Red Bull finished fifth after an additional pit stop, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell earning valuable points in sixth and eighth positions respectively.

Yuki Tsunoda claimed seventh place for Red Bull, followed by Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin in ninth and Esteban Ocon of Alpine in tenth, securing his team’s first point of the season. Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg slipped to 11th after a strong start, with Pierre Gasly of Alpine in 12th. Oscar Piastri battled back to 13th following a front wing change, cautioned by McLaren to avoid further incidents.

Daniel Ricciardo settled for 15th after an impressive Sprint performance, while Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll engaged in a fierce battle resulting in Stroll receiving a penalty. Alex Albon of Williams rounded off the finishers in 19th position, with Kevin Magnussen of Haas serving a penalty for a collision.

Celebrating his landmark victory, Norris shared emotional moments over the radio with his team, including his race engineer and McLaren CEO Zak Brown, marking a significant triumph for McLaren, their first Grand Prix win since Monza in 2021.

“About time!” Norris said post race. “What a race. It’s been a long time coming, but finally I’ve managed to do it. I’m so happy for my whole team, I finally delivered for them. A long day, tough race, but finally on top, so I’m over the moon.”

While the Safety Car timing benefitted Norris, the pace of his MCL38 was clear to see in the final stages as he stayed a decent distance ahead of Verstappen. Quizzed on whether he was feeling proud, Norris responded: “I am. The whole weekend’s been good, I’ve just had some little setbacks along the way.

“I knew on Friday we had the pace, just a couple of mistakes here and there, but today we managed to put it together. We put the perfect strategy [together], it all paid off. Thanks to McLaren, everyone, and have to give a shout out to my mum and dad of course.”

The newest Formula 1 winner was asked what message he had for the team, with whom he has spent his entire career in the sport to date as well as showing his faith in them by signing a contract to stay onboard until beyond 2025.

“What do I say to them? I’m just proud really,” Norris responded. “A lot of people doubted me along the way. I’ve made a lot of mistakes over my last five years, my short career, but today we put it all together so this is all for the team.

After the race, Verstappen who has not lost in North America in 1646 days, almost five years, admited he could do nothing to stop ‘flying’ Norris and praised Norris for the win.

Asked for his reaction to the result, which also marked McLaren’s first win since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen said: “You win, you lose. We’re all used to that in racing, right?

“Today was a bit tricky. I think already on the medium [tires] it didn’t feel fantastic, we were pulling away but not like it should be. Then once we made a pit stop I heard what the lap times McLaren were doing and I was like, ‘Well, that’s pretty quick!’.

“Once then they also switched onto the hard tyre, they just had more pace, especially Lando he was flying. It was incredibly difficult for us on that stint but if a bad day is P2 I take it.”

He added: “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.”

Asked if McLaren are showing their ‘true pace’ after a raft of updates to their cars at the Miami International Autodrome, Verstappen said: “I hope not! They came with an upgrade, for sure it looks like it works 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.”

There was speculation throughout the race that Verstappen could not find the pace in the car after he hit the cone in the chicane.

Reflecting on the race afterwards, Team Principal Christian Horner suggested that the impact on Verstappen’s car from the earlier bollard incident meant that ending the event in second place was actually a good outcome.

“He hit the bollard around Lap 20, and that’s actually done quite a lot of damage to the underside of the car, so we’ll have to look at exactly what the effect of that has been,” the Team Principal said.

“He had enough pace at that point, he was pulling clear of Oscar [Piastri] behind and Lando before he picked up that damage. Obviously thereafter we then pitted. The Safety Car came out at the best time for Lando and gave him essentially a free stop, but obviously not great for us because then you’re on [tires that are] five, six, seven laps older.

“And with the damage, I think second place was actually a decent result.”

Pushed further on the extent of the damage to Verstappen’s RB20, Horner added: “It’s a reasonable amount. The area around the left rear floor, there’s a reasonable amount that’s missing.

“I think when you actually see the pictures of what was missing, it wasn’t designed like that!”

Despite missing out on victory, Verstappen has extended his advantage at the top of the drivers’ standings to 35 points, with nearest championship rival and team mate Sergio Perez coming home back in fifth position.

The next event on the 2024 F1 calendar will be the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix over the weekend of May 17-19.