Why Norris's Miami luck was long overdue after 2021 near-misses

By becoming a grand prix winner Lando Norris has finally got the screaming monkey off his back, the one that’s been ever-more irritating since Sochi 2021. On that day he had it all under control from pole until the rain arrived a few laps from the end, forcing an unenviable dilemma onto him and the team. In opting to stay out on slicks as the rain eased he lost the gamble. Had he known there was a second rainfall on the way, he’d likely have made a different decision, and that failure of communication from the pitwall was all that had kept him from the podium’s top step.

If there was an element of bad luck about his Sochi race, so he was paid back last weekend in Miami by the safety car, both its timing and its initially picking up the chasing pack rather than him. But it wasn’t just luck he happened to be out there leading, still not having made a stop so late in the race. He was there because his combination of searing pace and gentle tyre usage was extraordinary and he was still lapping significantly faster on his old rubber than Max Verstappen could manage
on his new.

Norris’ pace was, as Verstappen later said, “insane”. He was by far the quickest car in the race despite having qualified only fifth in a McLaren which didn’t seem to like the soft tyre used in qualifying but which absolutely flew on either of the other two compounds. So yes, he got a lucky break with the safety car. But being in a position to take advantage of that good fortune was something quite out of reach of anyone else and fully to do with merit.

That lost Sochi victory in ’21 came just one race after Norris had followed team-mate Daniel Ricciardo across the line for a McLaren 1-2 at Monza. The McLaren was a decent car but was by no means a Mercedes or Red Bull match.

The foundation of the Monza 1-2 was built in the sprint race the day before, back when that decided the grid for the grand prix. Mercedes had locked out the sprint front row and Valtteri Bottas had converted his pole to a sprint victory but was taking engine penalties for the Grand Prix itself. Lewis Hamilton had got too much wheelspin at the start of the sprint and so lost out to Verstappen, Ricciardo and Norris. Verstappen finished the sprint second ahead of Ricciardo, Norris and Hamilton. For the Grand Prix proper, with Bottas starting way back, Ricciardo was promoted to the front row – and out-accelerated Verstappen at the start. The McLaren was fast enough at the end of the straights that Verstappen could do nothing about it and even before his collision with Hamilton he’d looked unlikely to deny Ricciardo.