McLaren driver Lando Norris capitalised on pitting under a Safety Car period to beat Max Verstappen to take his maiden Formula 1 win at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix.
The Briton survived the restart and then pulled clear from the three-time champion in the Red Bull to triumph, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finishing in third position.
The Medium was the predominant choice, but Valtteri Bottas went for Softs, with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo on Hards.
From the outset, Verstappen made a strong start to remain unopposed into Turn 1 as Leclerc endured a stuttering launch that put Perez and Sainz right on his Ferrari.
But Perez’s attempt to dive down the inside of the Ferraris sent Sainz wide and allowed Leclerc to capitalise to regain second, with Oscar Piastri advancing into third.
Like in the earlier Sprint encounter, George Russell was moving backwards as he dropped to 10th, while Fernando Alonso had gained two positions to rise up to 13th.
The Alpine drivers had qualified line astern and battled through the slow-speed section of the lap, which ended with Esteban Ocon emerging as the lead A524 runner.
Hamilton’s choice to opt for the long game with the Hard compound allowed Nico Hulkenberg to clamber over his rear and make a pass to the outside at Turn 1 stick.
Leclerc was vulnerable without DRS to Verstappen and Piastri took advantage to get past the Ferrari car into second place into Turn 17 at the close of the fourth lap.
Sainz was also lining up his team-mate and voiced over the radio that he believed he had pace in hand that was being stifled right behind Leclerc and Piastri in front.
Hamilton had been in the wars with a Haas driver in the Sprint and he almost collided with Hulkenberg when he was pushed to the inside on the approach to Turn 11.
The Mercedes driver had completed the overtake until he locked up under braking later in the lap at Turn 17 and Hulkenberg accepted the invitation to retake seventh.
With the top six beginning to edge clear from the pack behind, Hamilton got past Hulkenberg at the second time of asking with a replica move into Turn 11 on Lap 10.
Russell had recovered from his poor start to be leading the pack that was now aiming to overhaul Hulkenberg’s Haas and on Lap 12 he also made the pass at Turn 11.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, home representative Logan Sargeant for Williams and Sauber’s Bottas were the cars to make their first pit stops at the end of the last lap.
Hulkenberg was under pressure from Yuki Tsunoda, but Haas responded to those previous changes as it dragged the German in to make his opening stop in the race.
Perez had become detached from the three-car tussle for second and Norris was sensing that he had the pace in his McLaren MCL38 to displace the Red Bull for fifth.
Leclerc had become bogged down behind Piastri as track position once again proved the difference at the Miami International Autodrome, with Sainz sitting in fourth.
The Monegasque signalled his impatience as he posted the fastest lap of the race, moments after Verstappen had done the same to extend his lead to three seconds.
Norris got close enough using DRS to contemplate a move under braking at Turn 17 on Lap 17, but the Mexican covered off the inside and then bailed into the pit lane.
Perez would emerge in a whole host of traffic, however, dropping down the order to 10th place, despite the Red Bull mechanics managing another impressive pit stop.
McLaren advised Norris to go chasing after his ex-team-mate Sainz rather than pit to cover Perez, a choice that the Briton agreed with as he reeled off the fastest lap.
Ferrari had lost patience behind Piastri in the lead McLaren car, though, and serviced Leclerc in an astonishing 1.9s as the Italian marque bid to complete an undercut.
Leclerc came out the pits sandwiched between the Mercedes cars and utilised his newer rubber to displace Hamilton with relative ease to move back into the top five.
Verstappen had been coasting out front, but he sustained a moment at the Turn 14 and 15 slow chicane that saw him skip across the run-off area and clout the clone.
Russell commented over team radio that the stranded cone had now blown onto the racing line and that prompted the intervention of the Virtual Safety Car on Lap 23.
However, the interruption was brief and the return to racing conditions meant the drivers in the lead pack could not take advantage to pit at a much reduced time loss.
Nevertheless, Red Bull took the choice to call Verstappen in and he returned in fourth place, over three seconds ahead of Leclerc, who was told to increase his speed.
Piastri and Sainz had approached half-race distance when both their respective teams called them into the pits to discard their starting Medium rubber with the Hard.
Leclerc’s earlier stop had gained him track position over the McLaren, which now led the race with Norris circulating out front and still recording competitive lap times.
An incident between Magnussen and Sargeant at Turn 3 saw the Williams driver be stranded, triggering a Safety Car that enabled Norris to pit and retain first position.
Magnussen had been sizing up a pass on Sargeant, who had resisted an attack into Turns 1 and 2 before the Haas man clattered into his rival’s rear at the next apex.
The Dane, who received 30s worth of penalties in the Sprint and was now running as the last classified driver, was handed a 10-second drop to be added to his result.
Norris headed the rest as the field returned to racing on Lap 33 and the McLaren racer moved to the inside at Turn 1 to prevent Verstappen from mounting an attack.
Verstappen had been complaining about the Hard prior to the race being neutralised and was unable to maintain pace with the fresher-rubbered Norris on the restart.
Sainz had attempted to dance around Piastri’s outside into Turn 11, but the Australian maintained the inside line and ushered the Ferrari wide, much to his frustration.
The tussle between Sainz and Piastri had rambled on and the Ferrari driver made the overtake stick into Turn 17 on Lap 39 despite minor contact between the drivers.
Piastri had then used the DRS to charge through on the outside down the start-finish straight but the McLaren driver out-braked himself and relinquished fourth place.
Perez and Hamilton then passed Piastri at Turn 11 using DRS as the latter was then told he had a puncture and had to pit, putting him down the order to 19th and last.
Ocon and Alonso had diced over ninth for several turns, but the Frenchman’s resolve was broken as the two-time champion completed the move at Turn 11 on Lap 48.
Alex Albon was struggling across the closing exchanges and had succumbed a place to Lance Stroll at Turn 1 when he locked up into Turn 11 and skated off the track.
Norris had stretched out his advantage to 7.6s and took the chequered flag as a race winner for the first time in F1, with Verstappen made to settle for the second step.
Leclerc returned Ferrari to the podium for the sixth time this season, with team-mate Sainz behind in fourth. Perez was able to resist Hamilton to complete the top five.
Tsunoda continued his impressive beginning to the season with seventh place, rounding out a marvellous weekend for RB, as George Russell was eighth for Mercedes.
Alonso rebounded from disappointment earlier in the weekend to salvage ninth for Aston Martin, while Ocon ended Alpine’s protracted wait to score points this season.
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