Lando Norris took his long-awaited first victory at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix

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Lando Norris was officially named the winner of the Formula 1 race when he returned home to become the first to take the checkered flag at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. The McLaren driver celebrated with his trademark champagne bottle spike, but this time from the top of the podium.

In a weekend completely dominated by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, Norris’ pace at the Miami Autodrome on Sunday was surprising and truly entertaining to watch. The race was turned upside down when a crash between Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant forced the safety car to be deployed. Norris was one of the last drivers not to pit and was leading the race. He returned with four fresh demanding compound tires, still in the lead, and never looked back.

Max Verstappen was second and challenged Norris on the restart, but didn’t get close enough by the end of the race. Charles Leclerc was third, just a few seconds behind Max.

Logan Sargeant was the only DNF of the day as he was the victim of an incident with Magnussen. Lewis Hamilton came home in sixth position, but was close to Sergio Perez right at the end of the race (and was quite content with that). Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo’s magical weekend came to an end as his teammate Yuki Tsunoda significantly outperformed him in the race, finishing seventh with Ricciardo in 15th place.

At a press conference with the media, Norris said he “felt amazing” on the top step of the podium. “Just happiness, my smile, which doesn’t always happen, but sometimes I dream about those days and you never know when they’re going to come to you, but today was that day,” Norris said.

Both his closest competitors, Verstappen and Leclerc, were content that Norris also took his first victory.

“I think it took a long time and I’m very content to be beaten by Lando today,” Verstappen said. “He definitely deserved it and was miles faster in the end.”

“I’m just very content for Lando,” Leclerc began. “He needs to enjoy this as much as possible and tonight will be a good one.”

When asked about celebrations, Norris explained that celebrations are fine.

“I’m not going to sleep,” Norris laughs. “I’m going all the way. Tomorrow I might have more than just a scratch on my nose,” Norris said of the nose injury he suffered during last week’s event in Amsterdam.