Norris promises all-night party after his first F1 win
Lando Norris should take a lesson from his last big party and perhaps tone down the celebration for his first career Formula One victory.
His reaction following yesterday’s victory in the Miami Grand Prix showed the British driver probably doesn’t plan to miss a beat.
“Tonight’s going to be a great time,” Norris said. “I’m just really proud. 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 we put it all together, so this is all for the team. I started with McLaren because I believe in them and [the win] proved exactly that.”
Norris won in his 110th career start after a mistake by Max Verstappen ended Verstappen’s dominance at the circuit in the carpark surrounding Hard Rock Stadium.
The 24-year-old driver sprinted down pit lane to leap into the arms of his McLaren crew, which crowd surfed Norris until he finally got to boss Zak Brown, who wrapped Norris in a bearhug.
Norris arrived in Miami with a bandage covering stitches on his nose from a cut received by broken glass while he was in Amsterdam following F1’s last outing. Norris was celebrating King’s Day with DJ Martin Garrix when he cut his nose.
“I’m going to go all night,” Norris promised of the post-race party. “I may have more than a bandage on my nose.”
Verstappen, who started from the pole and won Sunday’s sprint race, was out front when he hit a chicane and knocked a cone out of place on the circuit. It forced the three-time reigning F1 champion to pit and gave Norris the lead.
Norris then controlled the race to give McLaren their first win since a Daniel Ricciardo victory in 2021. Ricciardo was among the handful of drivers who found Norris for a congratulatory hug following the race.
Norris is the second British driver in F1 history to be feted on the podium by God Save the King. George Russell in 2022 is the only other British driver to win outside of Queen Elizabeth’s reign; Russell’s victory in Brazil came two months after her death.
The song seemed to affect Norris, who closed his eyes as he turned his head to the sky with a huge grin on his face. When it came time for the champagne celebration, he was doused by runner-up Verstappen and third-place finisher Charles Leclerc, who sprayed the champagne directly into Norris’ eyes.
It took him a few minutes of wiping his eyes clear before he slammed his own champagne bottle to the ground to force it into a heavy stream he used to soak his McLaren team below the podium. He also tossed the winning trophy into the air but caught it.
With about 10 laps to go, Norris realised the race was his to lose when his lead over Verstappen hit five seconds.
“Five seconds?” Norris radioed his team. “Am I alive?”
Indeed he was, as an ecstatic McLaren squad celebrated a rare victory on a weekend in which they debuted significant upgrades on their two cars.
McLaren now have 13 wins in races in the United States — tying a record with Ferrari — but it was their first on American soil since Lewis Hamilton at Circuit of the Americas in 2012.
Norris’ final margin of victory was 7.6s over Verstappen of Red Bull. Verstappen had been undefeated at Miami with wins in its first two races and the sprint race on Sunday.
Norris said he knew when he entered the track in the morning that he’d end the day atop the podium.
“Finally. I am so happy. I knew it. I knew it when I came in this morning,” Norris said. “And I nailed it.”
McLaren have now won an F1, Formula E and IndyCar race in the past two months. Norris is the first driver since Carlos Sainz Jr to beat Verstappen — and Verstappen was eliminated from that race in Melbourne with a mechanical failure.
“You win. You lose. I think we’re all a bit used to that in racing,” said Verstappen. “Is a bad day P2? I will take it. I am happy for Lando, it’s been a long time coming and there’s more to come from him.”
As for his incident in the chicane, Verstappen tried to joke about hitting the cone.
“I didn’t like it. So I took it out,” he said. “And tested the front wing. So crash-test done.”
McLaren before the start of the race hosted former US President Donald Trump, who chatted with F1 officials from inside the McLaren garage. Fans began chanting “USA! USA!” and Trump pumped his fist in approval.