F1 Miami: 3 Big Things
Listen, this is 3 Big Things but more than ever, we could call this 1 Big Thing. We’ll do three but it could be 1 and you know it.
Top Step Lando: It all came together - finally - for Lando Norris. It was heartbreak in Russia a few years ago. He’s been close and he’s dragged McLaren into podium contention for the last few years now. A bona fide team leader at only 24, he’s had a drive like this in his locker and it was a strong team weekend and a great (if fortuitous) strategy to put him in the lead under safety car.
With Max Verstappen breathing down his neck for the restart, anyone could have forgiven it turning into a defensive battle to keep the reigning world champion behind. In truth, it was anything but. Norris stormed out of DRS range and opened up a six-second lead on the Red Bull. That was that.
Two Cars Surely Can’t Fit: Esteban Ocon brought it home P10 and had a spicy battle with Fernando Alonso later in the race, but his wheel-to-wheel combat with Pierre Gasly was stunning to open the Grand Prix.
One car barely fits through the Miami chicane and they fully went side-by-side with the only contact being a rear wheel tap at the exit onto the straight.
McLaren Upgrades Look Dangerous: Both Norris and Oscar Piastri looked excellent for long periods of the Miami Grand Prix. Norris will take the headlines and rightly so, but his car carried upgrades that were expected to be worth around two tenths a lap; Piastri’s work against the Ferraris is made even more impressive when keeping that in mind.
He’ll have them on the car for the next race but if the pace McLaren is showing ends up being truly representative of the step they’ve taken forward, Red Bull may well be looking over their shoulders at red and orange (sorry, PAPAYA) cars closing fast.
Nobody was expecting a race like this in Miami but with two weeks until Imola, it’s given everyone plenty to talk about before the European swing begins. Thank you, Formula 1 gods, for finally delivering our righteous reward.