And when the race restarted on lap 33, Norris was unstoppable on the hard tyre. By lap 34 he was out of DRS range at 1.3 seconds. By lap 44 the gap had risen to 3.5 seconds and Norris was setting fastest laps.
The Miami Grand Prix has not built the best reputation from a racing perspective. Its critics hate the fact that it’s a celebrity zoo more concerned with generating social media traffic than good racing. But in its defence, this was an entertaining race, with some wonderful battles up and down the field. Oscar Piastri’s fight with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for fourth was a particular highlight. The Australian picked up some damage in the process, dropping him to last, and there was an amusing moment when his team had to tell him to cool his jets as he fought his way back through the field.
“A reminder Lando is leading the race. We do not want to cause a safety car!”
Fortunately, he did not. Norris held on for a thoroughly deserved win. Exactly 30 years on from the death of one McLaren legend, might we have witnessed the birth of another? It is far too early to make comparisons with Ayrton Senna, of course. But Norris is off the mark.
“I’m just proud really,” he reflected. “I mean a lot of people doubted me along the way, I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the last five years, my short career but today we put it altogether so this is all for the team. I stuck with McLaren because I believed in them and today proved exactly.”
