After 110 starts and 15 podium appearances McLaren Racing driver, Lando Norris, secured his first Formula One victory Sunday afternoon at the Miami Grand Prix which was held for the third time in its history at the Miami International Autodrome just outside of Miami, FL. Norris has achieved runner up status seven times in his six year Formula One career.

“What a race. It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally managed to do it. I’m so happy for the whole team, and what we’ve achieved together," said Norris. "We’ve had a few little setbacks across the weekend, but today we managed to put it all together. The car was great, the strategy was perfect, and I’m over the moon."

Midway through the Grand Prix Norris was the last of the front pack to pit, doing so under a yellow flag, which let the British driver come out of the pits still leading the field. Norris, who started fifth on grid, was able to hold off Red Bull's Max Verstappen on the Lap 32 restart and led the field for the remaining 25 laps of the 57 lap race; gaining a 10 second advantage over 2nd place finisher Verstappen with five laps to go.

Besides losing to Carlos Sainz at last season's Grand Prix of Singapore, Verstappen had not lost a race that he finished since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Friday's Sprint Qualifying showed Lando's MCL38 could have the pace to take the win on Sunday after leading both Q1 and Q2 of the Sprint Qualifying sessions. The win was an impressive moment for Norris who began his Formula One career in 2018 and a significant achievement for McLaren Racing whose last victory was at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix with driver Daniel Ricciardo taking the checkers followed by Norris.

“Victory today in Miami is meaningful for many reasons. First of all, for Lando and his first F1 win. I am happy from the bottom of our hearts for him. We’ve often said as soon as we give him winning material, he’s going to win. He did it in style." said Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal.

“Beyond that, it’s a very important day for the team. We’ve been on a journey for some time, after an incredible turnaround last year. We’ve kept momentum, and today is another very important step and hopefully the starting point for greater success," added Stella.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc joined Norris and pole-sitter, Verstappen, on the podium. In an excellent outing for Ferarri, Leclerc, who started outside the pole, was followed across the finish line by his teammate, Carlos Sainz (P4.)

"From our side we had a strong race and we were able to stay with Max (Verstappen) all race long," said Fred Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal. "We were a bit unlucky with the Safety Car with Carlos but it is what it is and we have to stick with the positives, especially the fact that the pace was there all weekend."

Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, had a strong outing, bringing his W15 across the finish line with a fifth place finish.

"I had some enjoyable battles out there. I was giving it everything I had to make progress and made a couple of good overtakes," said the seven time World Champion. "We were challenging the Red Bull at the end so to be able to race them felt great."

"Today was probably the best day of racing I've had this year, so we just need to keep pushing," added Hamilton, whose teammate, George Russell, finished P8.

Yuki Tsunoda, continued his impressive 2024 campaign for RB Visa with an eighth place finish. In the six Grand Prix's of 2024, Tsunoda has qualified in the top 10 four times and has three top ten finishes. Tsunoda also finished 10th in Saturday's Sprint Race.

"It's been an incredible week in which we scored in both races," said Tsunoda. "We kind of expected we would have a good performance here but the most important thing is that we achieved it. As a team, we stuck to our plan and didn't make any mistakes today."

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, after a difficult Saturday in which the Spaniard could not get higher than 15th during qualifying, was able to drive his AMR24 to a ninth place finish.

"After a difficult day yesterday, it was good to come away from this weekend with some points for the team," said Alonso. "We got a bit lucky with the timing of the Virtual Safety Car and then the full Safety Car bunching the field up."

"We then took this opportunity to fit the Medium tyres," added the two time World Champion. "This changed our strategy a little bit and allowed us to have some good battles out there. I enjoyed the racing and it seems we showed a little more performance in the race than we did in Qualifying."

Alpine BWT Racing's, Esteban Ocon, rounded out the top ten, giving the first points of the season to his Enstone-based team.

Miami GP Results Summary - Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Tsunoda, Russell, Alonso, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Piastri, Zhou, Ricciardo, Bottas, Stroll, Albon, Magnussen, Sargeant

Miami GP Final Results

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Norris		McLaren		57	1hr 30:49.876
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	57	+ 0:07.612
3	Leclerc		Ferrari		57	+ 0:09.920
4	Sainz		Ferrari		57	+ 0:16.407
5	Hamilton	Mercedes	57	+ 0:16.585
6	Perez		Red Bull	57	+ 0:19.650
7	Tsunoda		RB		57	+ 0:26.185
8	Russell		Mercedes	57	+ 0:34.789
9	Alonso		Aston Martin	57	+ 0:37.107
10	Ocon		Alpine		57	+ 0:39.746
11	Hulkenberg	Haas		57	+ 0:40.789
12	Gasly		Alpine		57	+ 0:44.958
13	Piastri		McLaren		57	+ 0:49.756
14	Zhou		Stake		57	+ 0:49.979
15	Ricciardo	RB		57	+ 0:50.956
16	Bottas		Stake		57	+ 0:52.356
17	Stroll		Aston Martin	57	+ 0:55.173
18	Albon		Williams	57	+ 1:16.091
19	Magnussen	Haas		57	+ 1:24.683
	Sargeant	Williams	27	Accident Damage

(image provided by Sulay Kelly/Mercedes F1 Media)