Lando Norris won his first Formula 1 race in Miami after a timely safety car allowed him to make a pit stop without losing his lead. He beat Max Verstappen to claim the victory, which was emotional for him because he had come close to winning many times before.
When asked about his feelings by Jenson Button during a TV interview, Norris said, “Oh… about time, huh? F**k!…. Sorry!” He continued, “What a race. It’s been a long time coming. But finally I’ve managed to do it. I’m so happy for my whole team that I finally delivered for them. And yeah, a long day, tough race, but I’m finally on top, so I’m over the moon.”
Norris believed that his McLaren car had great potential during the weekend, despite facing challenges during sprint qualifying on Friday and a difficult exit at Turn 1 during Saturday’s sprint.
He said, “The whole weekend has been good. I’ve just had some little setbacks along the way. But I knew on Friday, we had the pace and just a couple of mistakes here and there. But today, we managed to put it together, we put in the perfect strategy, it all paid off. So thanks to McLaren and everyone. And I have to give a shout out to my mum and dad, of course.”
Norris acknowledged that he had made mistakes in the past but expressed his pride in the McLaren team, which has always supported him. He said, “I’m just proud, really. I mean, a lot of people I guess, doubted me along the way. I’ve made a lot of mistakes over my last five years, my short career. But today, we put it all together. So this is all for the team. I stuck with McLaren because I could believe in them. And I did believe in them. And today proved exactly that.”
