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5 Winners and 5 Losers from the Miami Grand Prix – Who was making hay in the Sunshine State?
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Lando Norris secured the first Grand Prix victory of his career with a sensational drive in Miami – but while he and his McLaren team partied into the night, others didn’t have much to celebrate on their flights home. As the dust settles, Lawrence Barretto has picked out his winners and losers from the Miami Grand Prix...
Winner: Lando Norris
You’d struggle to find a person in the Formula 1 paddock who wasn’t happy for Lando Norris as he clinched the first Grand Prix win of his career at the 110th attempt.
The 24-year-old benefitted from a Safety Car intervention – but nailed the restart and showed devastating speed across the weekend in a heavily upgraded McLaren.
He became the 21st British driver to clinch a F1 win and the 114th in total across the sport’s 74-year history. As reigning world champion Max Verstappen said, you get the impression this is likely to be the first win of many for Norris.
Norris was due to fly straight out after the race - but he decided to stay and celebrate his maiden win
Loser: Oscar Piastri
The Miami Grand Prix was shaping up to be a cracker for Oscar Piastri, who made up three places in the opening sequence of corners to run third, before putting a pass on Charles Leclerc to run a brilliant second.
However, he was undone by the timing of the Safety Car, which dropped him back – and then was unlucky to pick up front wing damage from a touch with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as they squabbled over fourth.
READ MORE: Sainz hit with five-second time penalty after collision with Piastri in Miami Grand Prix
That necessitated a pit stop for a new nose – dropping him out of contention for points, let alone a podium. This was the first time he’d not scored in a Grand Prix all season.
Piastri's bright start didn't land him any points on a day where luck didn't favour him
Winner: Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda continued his fine start to 2024 with a brilliant performance across the Miami Sprint weekend in the upgraded RB.
The Japanese racer snatched a point in the Sprint, making up seven places from a starting position of 15th – and then drove an inch-perfect Grand Prix to take seventh.
This equalled his and the team’s best Grand Prix result of the season (he was seventh in Australia) and moves him onto 14 points, just three short of his points tally for the whole of last season.
Losers: Williams
Williams finally managed to bring a spare chassis to a Grand Prix in 2024 – but that was the high point in an otherwise frustrating weekend.
Logan Sargeant’s home race was ended by Kevin Magnussen, who pitched the American into the barriers.
2024 Miami Grand Prix: Magnussen collision knocks Sargeant out of the race – and triggers Safety Car
His team mate Alex Albon's race was wrecked by the Safety Car and then the team said he picked up floor damage, which caused a huge lock-up and dropped him to the back of the pack.
They remain on the hunt for their first points finish of the season and will hope the small upgrades they have planned for the next race in Imola can help make them more competitive.
READ MORE: What the teams said – Race day in Miami
Winners: Alpine
Alpine finally got off the mark in 2024 as Esteban Ocon scored a hard-fought point with 10th in a chassis that had some weight shaved out of it and some upgraded parts.
This is the longest the Enstone team have gone into a season before scoring since the 1985 campaign when they ran as Toleman.
Ocon was able to fight Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin for several laps, while Pierre Gasly would have been in contention to score had the Virtual Safety Car not been called into action.
Ocon finally opened his points tally for the year by scoring in Miami
Losers: Red Bull
This wasn’t the smoothest of weekends for reigning world champions Red Bull with both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez failing to find a good balance on a track where they secured a comfortable one-two last season.
Verstappen – who won the Sprint - was undone by the Safety Car on Sunday afternoon, the Dutchman lacking the pace to then catch and re-pass Norris to reclaim the lead. That ends his run of six consecutive Grand Prix wins in the USA.
Team mate Sergio Perez got it all wrong at Turn 1, skating through on the inside and narrowly avoiding hitting Verstappen. He crossed the line fifth, his lowest finish in Miami – though that became fourth courtesy of Carlos Sainz’s five-second post-race penalty.
2024 Miami Grand Prix: Perez overshoots Turn 1 and almost hits Verstappen on the race start
Winner: Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc had one of the strongest – if not his strongest – weekend of the season, the Ferrari driver following up a brilliant second in the Sprint with third in the Grand Prix.
He lost out to Norris with Safety Car but it was nonetheless his third podium of the year, while the result means he has finished inside the top-four in every race and Sprint this year.
Perhaps the biggest positive, though, was the return of his qualifying speed that has become his trademark. The Monegasque was far more consistent over one lap, starting both the Sprint and the Grand Prix from the front row.
Losers: Sauber
This was a frustrating weekend for Sauber, who continued their pointless start to 2024 with a lacklustre weekend.
Leclerc grabbed his third podium of the year on Sunday
While Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas were able to challenge the top-10 in Sprint Qualifying and looked in contention to fight for points last time out in China, they were nowhere near that quality in Miami.
It means they leave the United States still rock bottom of the constructors’ championship.
Winner: Daniel Ricciardo
It has been a difficult start 2024 for Daniel Ricciardo but China seemed like the turning of a corner and Miami followed that up as he grabbed his first points of the year with a brilliant fourth in the Sprint.
FACTS AND STATS: Norris becomes 21st British winner on 110th McLaren start
That was his best-result in any race format since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix and came after a superb qualifying where he made it onto the second row of the grid.
The Grand Prix didn’t go so well, the Australian starting last following a three-place grid penalty for an infringement in China before failing to get anywhere near the points - but this was nevertheless a weekend of more positivity for Ricciardo.
Ricciardo might have had a race to forget, but he did pick up good points in the Sprint
Losers: Mercedes
This was Lewis Hamilton’s first top-six finish in a Grand Prix this season, the seven-time world champion turning in a typically robust drive to take sixth, having hassled the Red Bull of Perez for the final stint but unable to find a way through.
His team mate George Russell had an uneventful race, ending up eighth – which is his lowest-ever finish in Miami.
But their combined lowly points-score sees them lose more ground to Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren in the constructors’ championship.
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