Lando Norris believes his first F1 victory was “a long time coming” after winning the Miami Grand Prix.
After 110 Grands Prix, Norris finally stood on the top step of an F1 podium on Sunday to become the 21st British driver to win a race.
The 24-year-old took advantage of a timely safety car to lead Max Verstappen with 25 laps remaining and held his nerve to become F1’s 114th different winner.
“I don’t know how I feel! I’m just happy, proud. It feels like it’s been a long time,” Norris told Sky Sports F1.
“I feel like we’ve had a lot of opportunities. We’re getting closer and closer.
“We never got it all figured out and today was that day. We were good all weekend.
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McLaren’s Lando Norris dedicated his first Grand Prix victory to his family after taking his maiden victory in Miami.
“Even though we had some setbacks – Friday qualifying, the sprint, not the best qualifying on Saturday, I remained positive. And that’s rare!
“Everything went well. We were fast all day. I had a good strategy, a good plan. I stayed out of trouble in the first corner because it was very tight. I I was focused on our race and we were fast.
“Of course we had a bit of luck with the safety car. But even after that the pace was by far the best on track.
“I have to thank the team. Without them this wouldn’t be possible.”
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Lando Norris felt the chance to win in Miami was open as soon as the safety car came out because he knew his pace was good.
Norris: I was confident when the Safety Car came out
Norris had the full upgrade package in Miami from McLaren and looked fast immediately from the first practice sessions.
However, Norris ended up on the wrong side of a first-corner collision during Saturday’s sprint and qualified fifth for Sunday’s race.
It initially looked like a fight for victory between Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri, but Norris took advantage of the safety car, as Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant collided, before crashing. get away from Verstappen. .
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Zak Brown congratulates the entire McLaren team setup which earned Lando Norris his first Grand Prix victory in Miami.
“As soon as the safety car came out. Even before that I felt really good. The pace was unbelievable, the pace was better than Max and everyone else’s,” Norris said.
“I was far away, but I knew there could have been opportunities. Hard work turned into luck. It wasn’t just luck. Things were going well and that little extra gave me help.
“As soon as the safety car came out, I didn’t think, ‘Max is going to get me here.’ I was confident.
“I didn’t do the best job on the restart. I defended until the first corner and from then on it was pretty easy.”
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Lando Norris celebrates in style, riding the crowd with his McLaren team and being congratulated by rival drivers.
Respect for the driver is the “best thing” after victory
Norris was originally scheduled to fly out of Miami after the race, but postponed his flight until Monday in order to continue the celebrations.
After the race, he was congratulated by almost the entire peloton as he celebrated victory with his McLaren team.
“It’s amazing. It’s the best thing of all, the people you respect and the people you race against, when Fernando comes up to you and Lewis comes up to you, those are people that I admired since I was a kid,” he said.
“The fact that I’m racing against them and… they’re probably not deep down happy for me, but they’re happy for me and I respect that a lot and I’m grateful for that.”
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Lando Norris pulls away from Max Verstappen at the safety car restart at the Miami GP.
Norris pays tribute to De Ferran
Norris also paid tribute to former McLaren sporting director and consultant Gil de Ferran, who died late last year.
De Ferran gave Norris advice as the British driver got used to life in F1, having joined the championship in 2019.
“He helped us a lot. He said I was going to win a race in the next two years and I managed to do that, so big thanks to Gil as well,” Norris said.
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz looks back at all the big talking points from the Miami Grand Prix where Lando Norris took his first Formula 1 victory.
“My dad probably would have loved to come here! But it was for my family, not just my mom and dad.
“I’ve traveled a lot, I spend a lot of time outside. They’ve helped me from the beginning: my brother, my sisters, my grandparents, everything is for them.”
Formula 1 heads to Europe as Imola returns to the calendar following the cancellation of last year’s race. Watch the Emilia-Romagna GP from May 17-19. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month subscription – No contracts, cancel anytime
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