The 2024 Miami Grand Prix was not quite what many of us (or at least I) expected—a car that wasn’t a Red Bull finished in P1, and that’s with defending champion Max Verstappen not getting a DNF.
Yes, folks, McLaren’s Lando Norris has finally nabbed his maiden Grand Prix win. After finishing on the podium 15 times before this, the British driver has now finished P1 on his 110th race start.
Lando Norris gets maiden race win at Miami GP
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The race had quite the wild start, with Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez nearly hitting (and probably taking out) his teammate right at Turn 1. Verstappen luckily avoided contact and led for most of the earlier parts of the race, with Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri being the one ahead of the pack at P2.
On Lap 20, Norris earned the fastest lap, and it was at the lap after that Verstappen hit the bollards on one of the chicanes. The champion pitted shortly after and for a few laps, Piastri led the way with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Jr. following closely behind. The two race leaders eventually pitted on Lap 28 while Norris stayed out, and on the same lap there was an incident involving Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Williams’ Logan Sargeant that resulted in a safety car.
Norris was able to take advantage of the safety car and was able to pit in the following lap without losing the lead to Verstappen, who was now at P2. The race restarted on Lap 33, and from there Norris was able to hold on to the lead for another 24 laps en route to his first race win—and seven seconds clear of Verstappen at that.
Bianca Bustamante earns maiden podium finish for McLaren
McLaren also saw success at the F1 Academy in Miami this weekend, where our kababayan Bianca Bustamante was able to secure a P2 finish in Race 2. The 19-year-old Filipina had a “heartbreaking” outing in Race 1, starting at P4 but dropping to P16 due to a costly error. She eventually clawed her way back into the points at P7. In the succeeding race, she had an excellent start that kept her in second, and from there she never looked back.
Bustamante ended the weekend with a 39-point haul and fifth in the standings. It was Alpine’s Abbi Pulling who had the best outing, securing P1 in both races and finishing with a total of 99 points.
Suffice to say, it was a fine weekend of racing for the lads in Papaya. As for us fans, we can only hope to see more exciting races in the coming months.
