McLaren’s Lando Norris took victory in the Miami GP Sprint race, triumphantly returning to the podium to secure a win helped by a late safety car.
Prior to the Sprint race commencing, heavy rainfall submerged the track, resulting in a delay of the sprint race due to the conditions. But the main reason for the outcome of the race came near the end, when the track rapidly dried in the closing stages. Leading to a flurry of stops from inters to slicks.
On Lap 14, World Driver Championship leader, Oscar Piastri, was brought in from the lead to move onto slicks. Lando Norris took charge on the inters for a lap, then moved to softs, with the help of a perfectly timed safety car to secure the win.
Norris’s head-to-head with Piastri
As the safety car was released, it was neck and neck for the two McLaren teammates to see who could get in front of each other. With Norris in the pit lane and Piastri zooming down the straight, it was all to play for.
When Norris was asked in the post-race press conference if he thought there was any chance he could get ahead of Piastri before the Safety Car came out, he said:
“Yeah, I mean, well obviously it was the first lap I had some clean air, so that made things feel quite a bit better. I think my pace was still very strong at that phase.
“You know, I feel like I could push on. And a little part of me wanted to keep going and kind of stay on the tyre. And it was only four laps to go, but the slick was a lot better. Like we saw, Lewis already gained a lot of time on the other guys – maybe their first laps were not amazing – but I think Oscar was still probably a second or two seconds quicker.”
McLaren made the call at the final corner to bring Norris in for softs which made it look like his hopes of winning had all but disappeared. When Norris pulled into the pit lane, he was 18.7s ahead of Piastri and 24.6s ahead of Hamilton. With a pitstop lasting around 19 to 20 seconds, this would have cemented his second-place position, that was if everything had gone to plan, with no Safety Car.
Speaking on this decision, Norris added:
“I’m sure he still would have come out ahead, and I would have come out on the colder tyres. So no, I probably wasn’t so looking ahead to where Oscar was at that point. It was more looking behind to the guys who might have been trying to undercut and get ahead on the slick tyre.”
“I just put in a very good lap. We made a very late call to box – it was only literally the last corner. But yeah, worked out, so I was happy.”
Norris’s luck at Miami
In a post-sprint track interview, Norris said that he has “pretty good” luck in Miami.
“My luck in Miami seems pretty good at the minute, so I’m happy. But you know, the pace was still very good. It’s always just difficult, these races. You never know when to box. You box early—you know, it paid off for Lewis and he had a good strategy—or do you stay out later and maybe get the Safety Car, you know?
Although Norris was happy, he added that he would have preferred to win at the main race tomorrow.
“So it’s worked two years in a row. I probably would prefer if this happened tomorrow rather than today, but I’ll take it. I’m happy. Good job by the team, so yeah, it was good fun.”
But, when asked if he is ready to go into qualifying and secure pole position and win at the race tomorrow, Norris didn’t hold back and said:
“That’s the plan. Yeah, that’s the plan. But it’s tricky. You know, there’s a lot of quick guys out there and I felt good yesterday, to be honest. A couple little mistakes, but I’m ready to go again. So excited.”
Norris’ thoughts on the Sprint Race
Due to the incident-packed Sprint race, a Safety Car was deployed on Lap 15 for Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso due to a crash on Turn 12 involving Liam Lawson. During the deployment of the Safety Car, Norris was in the pits and got in front of teammate Oscar Piastri to cruise on fresh softs to win the race.
When Lando was asked if the Safety Car worked for him, he said openly:
“It was a good race. I mean, everything went to plan, you know. Both had a good start and got into first and second, which was a nice thing. And then, yeah, it was those conditions that we’ve had several times this year already, where it’s Inters, drying out. But I had good pace throughout. I managed things well.
“I had mainly good pace at the end of the stint. And obviously, then it dried out enough to go onto the slicks. I had to box a lap later. I probably wanted to box the lap Oscar did, but I was unable to do that. So just getting forced to stay out helped me get the win.”
And when the Briton was asked if he thought about a potential double-stack pit stop, Norris said bluntly, “No, I was too close. I would have lost out to the others.”
Norris’s thoughts on the MCL39
The McLaren driver has been known to voice his thoughts throughout the first quarter of the F1 season about the MCL39. With upgrades promised by McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella, when Norris was asked if he had enjoyed the car this weekend, he said:
“I think I’ve been pretty happy with the car all weekend. We put it down in a good place. No, excited. I was happy yesterday with the P3. It was close between a lot of people. So yeah, satisfied with that. Obviously happy with today and confident for later today.”
Miami Sprint win “a boost” for Norris’ confidence
Over the past race weekends, Norris has slipped from his winning performance in Melbourne. While his teammate Oscar Piastri has been racking up race wins for McLaren.
When asked if this little victory has given him a little bit more confidence, Norris agreed and said:
“I mean, they’ve been good. Like I said on Thursday, it’s not like I’ve lacked confidence or anything. I’m still happy. I still know my pace is there, and the speed is there. But of course it’s a boost, you know. Every little thing, every point is a good thing. Even yesterday, when I was third, I was so happy with the lap. I did a couple of little mistakes, but it was still a well-executed lap. Just kind of getting the lap in and putting it there and at least being in the fight.”
However, Norris acknowledges his mistakes have cost him this season as he continued:
“I think a couple of my other mistakes have just set me further back. But this weekend has been a good one. Yeah, I’ve been happy with everything – with the car, with myself, with the performances. So just keep chipping away.”
