Lando Norris won his first race in Miami, and McLaren introduced a big upgrade for their car. Max Verstappen from Red Bull, who was in the lead, had problems with his car’s floor. Norris got a free pitstop because he stayed out when there was a safety car during the race.
Even before his pitstop, Norris was driving really fast. He was using medium tires, and when the race restarted with hard tires, he still kept his lead and drove faster than Verstappen. He won by seven seconds. Verstappen admitted that McLaren’s speed was incredible.
Piastri was also doing well until he got into a crash with Carlos Sainz. Piastri’s car didn’t have all the upgrades that Norris’s car had.
McLaren was happy about Norris’s win, but Stella, one of the team members, wasn’t sure if Miami’s race was a good indicator of how future races would go.
“Yes, we made the car better. We know from the numbers how much we improved it, and it should be faster,” Stella said. “But Red Bull had a hard time in this race. Does that mean they’ll be slow in the future? I’m not sure about that.
“In Japan and China, we were not far behind Red Bull in qualifying. So, it’s not realistic to think that what we saw in Miami will be the same in future races. I think Red Bull didn’t use their car’s full potential in this race.”
Piastri will get the same upgrades as Norris in the next race. Stella thinks that McLaren’s success in Miami shows that their hard work at the factory is paying off. They are now working on more upgrades for later this year to be able to compete better with Red Bull.
“We are happy about this win, and it gives us motivation to work even harder,” Stella said. “But if we want to keep challenging Red Bull, we need to make our car even better.”
