Miami Gardens (United States) (AFP) – Formula One has built much of its recent success in the United States on the Netflix reality doc series ‘Drive to Survive’ but with Max Verstappen utterly dominating there was an acute need for a plot twist.
That arrived in Miami on Sunday, when Lando Norris, the 24-year-old McLaren driver, pulled off a surprise win over the Dutchman.
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Verstappen has won four of the six races so far this season and it would be unwise for anyone to see Norris’s win as the sign of an imminent change in fortunes for the three-times world champion, but to maintain interest, F1 needed some rotation on the top of the podium.
It was certainly a feel-good story, Norris came into Miami having had a record 15 podium finishes without a win — with eight of those second-place finishes.
Near-misses, such as at Sochi in 2021 when he led late but paid the price for failing to switch tyres in time during heavy rain, led to some taunting of Norris including the online nickname ‘Lando NoWins’. While he was all smiles after his victory, he was not going to miss the chance for a defiant reply to his critics.
“I am happy to put that to bed and prove a lot of these people wrong,” he told his post-race press conference. “I love it to go on Instagram and like all the comments from people abusing me, I freaking love it, makes me smile more than anything, especially ‘Lando NoWins’, that’s become the thing,” he added. “For me to prove those people wrong and prove (to) the people who didn’t think I could go out and do it, it’s going to be an even bigger smile on my face today, so I thank all of them,” he said.
McLaren had been without a Grand Prix win since Monza in 2021 and team principal Andrea Stella said they had finally given Norris the chance to win. “The victory for Lando, he deserved it so much and we always said as soon as we give him the right material he’s going to make it and he made it. I know what kind of work is behind it, it’s so deserved for the McLaren team, I hope everyone enjoys this moment,” he said.
Norris insisted that he had always had faith in his ability to win a Grand Prix and asked if it was a weight of his shoulders to finally clinch one, couldn’t deny the reality. “As much as I want to say no, it’s a yes! To get that first victory is always incredible. I’ve of course had my moments where I’ve been close, and I’ve never been able to convert it into the win,” he said. “But I wasn’t worried. As much as a lot of people doubted that I was going to be able to put it together and win a race, I wasn’t worried.”
Norris said he was able to find time to savour the moment when he finally broke through. “I dream of these days sometimes. You never know when they’re going to come towards you, but today was that day. As much as my mind was going crazy, I was thinking a lot of things, I was also quiet. It’s just a bit lonely out there at times and it’s nice to reflect on everything you’ve done to get to this point,” he said.
But the reflecting over, his thoughts were soon on how to celebrate his win in Miami. “I’m not gonna sleep,” he grinned. “I’m going all the way!”
© 2024 AFP
