F1 Miami GP: Norris beats Verstappen to take first win

Lando Norris is a Grand Prix winner after beating Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc to the top spot of the podium at the Miami Grand Prix.

 

The British driver has long been tipped to be a future World Champion and the long wait for a Grand Prix victory is finally over after several near misses over the past few seasons.

 

At the race start, Lewis Hamilton was the only driver in the top ten that opted not to use the medium tyres, instead going for the hard compound.

 

Max Verstappen led the grid away at the start but he was almost taken out by his team-mate Sergio Perez right at the start after the Mexican driver ran wide at turn one.

 

Piastri was looking strong in the opening stint and he was able to get past Charles Leclerc in turn 17 by breaking late with the help of DRS as well.

 

While running in the top ten, Nico Hulkenberg was the first to pit from the leading half of the leaderboard. This move was made to cover the undercut from Stroll, Albon, Sargeant and Bottas.

 

On lap 19, Charles Leclerc pitted from third and rejoined the race in sixth place on hard tyres.

 

Verstappen struggled to keep his car within track limits at the turn 14-15 chicance and crashed into the bollard and had to get his team to check for any potential wing damage.

 

A virtual safety car was brought out in order to recover the debris left behind from the Dutch driver.

 

Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen were having a bit of a scrap on track and ended up crashing into each other and knocking Sargeant out of the race. Magnussen was able to continue, later given a ten second time penalty.

This did however allow Norris to pit from the lead of the race under the safety car.

 

Norris was able to keep the lead from the restart and increased the gap as the race went on. He crossed the line to claim his first Grand Prix victory, delight all around at the McLaren team.

 

 

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