Formula One was in the sunshine state, home of beautiful beaches, thrilling theme parks, and for this weekend the FORMULA 1 CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2024. After winning Saturday’s sprint race from pole position, Max Verstappen was looking to repeat this feat in Sunday’s main event. Verstappen was undefeated at this venue and he was looking to keep that record alive.
Charles Leclerc got away poorly from the front row of the grid, immediately losing places to the cars behind. Sergio Perez tried to capitalize on the slow Ferrari by diving up the inside of the first corner, but locked up and very nearly ran into the back of his teammate. He ran wide, causing the two Ferraris and Lando Norris to take evasive action. The big winner from Perez’s mistake was Oscar Piastri, finding his way up to P3.
Later in the opening lap, the two Alpine drivers were wheel-to-wheel for the second half of the lap. It was surely a tense moment for the Alpine garage, as the two drivers were separated by millimetres through the technical corners at the end of the second sector, very nearly colliding multiple times.
Back at the front, Leclerc, who managed to retake P2 in the first corner with help from Perez, was under pressure from Piastri behind. The massively upgraded McLaren appeared strong as it zoomed passed Leclerc to take P2 on lap four. By this point, Verstappen had already stretched his legs and taken a comfortable two-second lead over the rest of the field. Although Carlos Sainz looked as though he had the pace to compete with the McLaren of Piastri, he was stuck behind his teammate and the Ferrari opted not to swap positions.
Leclerc was able to stay within DRS range of Piastri, but the DRS was far less powerful compared to the other races this season, preventing him from mounting any serious overtaking attempts. By lap 12, the midfield runners who started on the medium tyres began making their scheduled pit stops.
Sergio Perez was the first of the top five drivers to make his pit stop, coming under serious pressure from Norris behind. Norris was clearly being held up by the Red Bull, setting the fastest lap the next time across the line. McLaren opted to stretch their first stint rather than respond to Red Bull’s pit stop. Leclerc was the next top-five driver to pit a couple of laps later.
On lap 22, we saw a rare error from the reigning World Champion when he hit a cone at the turn 14 chicane in sector two. He became loose at turn 13 and was forced to cut across the chicane. The virtual safety car was briefly deployed so that track marshals could clear the damaged cone, but it was not long enough for the lead cars to get the advantage of a cheap pit stop. Verstappen, Sainz, and Piastri were forced to pit after the VSC ended.
Only a few laps later, Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen crashed in turn 3 at a critical moment in the race. Magnussen attempted a switchback on the Williams out of the first corner, poking his nose on the inside of Sargeant in turn 3. Sargeant took the racing line through the corner, spinning into the barriers. Magnussen was given a 10-second penalty for causing a collision and then caught the attention of the stewards again later in the race for failing to serve that penalty correctly.
In a strange turn of events, the safety car exited the pit lane in front of Verstappen instead of race leader Norris, who had already gone by the pit lane. This allowed Norris to drive around the lap under delta pace instead of behind the safety car like the rest of the field. He made his pit stop and the rest of the cars were allowed to overtake the safety car once the stricken Williams was removed from the circuit.
At the restart, Norris left the restart a little late, putting himself under pressure from Verstappen in the opening sector. The McLaren driver used his fresh tyres to break DRS range before it was activated the following lap, easing the pressure from Verstappen behind.
The other McLaren driven by Piastri became embroiled in a battle with the Ferrari of Sainz in the laps after the restart. The drama started after Piastri ran Sainz wide in turn 11, similar to what we saw during the sprint race between Magnussen and Hamilton. The two touched wheels, which caused a frustrated Sainz to demand the position over the team radio. However, the incident didn’t require any investigation from the stewards.
Sainz’s frustration bubbled up and he tried to lunge passed the McLaren in the turn 17 hairpin on lap 39. The two collided, damaging Piastri’s front wing. Piastri attempted to retake the position in the first corner but ran wide and began dropping down the field. He was called into the pit lane to fit a new front wing, essentially ending his race.
But there was elation at the other side of the McLaren garage as Lando Norris crossed the finish line to take his first career Formula One victory. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc stood alongside him on the podium on this landmark day in the young Brit’s career. Norris joins the winner’s club, membership 114.
Everyone will have two weeks to process that shocking result. Next up Formula One will be in Imola for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which will be held on the weekend of May 19.
UPDATE: Carlos Sainz was given a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri. This penalty drops him from P4 to P5.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 57 | 1:30:49.876 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 57 | +7.612 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 57 | +9.920 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 57 | +14.650 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 57 | +16.407 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 57 | +16.585 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 57 | +26.185 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 57 | +34.789 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 57 | +37.107 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 57 | +39.746 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 57 | +40.789 | |||
| 12 | 57 | +44.958 | |||
| 13 | 57 | +49.756 |  | ||
| 14 | 57 | +49.979 | |||
| 15 | 57 | +50.956 | |||
| 16 | 57 | +52.356 | |||
| 17 | 57 | +55.173 | |||
| 18 | 57 | +76.091 | |||
| 19 | 57 | +84.683 | |||
| DNF | 27 |
