Miami GP safety car “playing into Lando's hands” for F1 sprint win

Lando Norris' "luck in Miami seems pretty good" as late safety car helps him beat race leader Oscar Piastri to sprint victory in Miami GP

Lando Norris has praised his "good luck" in Miami, after capturing the Formula 1 sprint race win thanks to a well-timed safety car - echoing his 2024 grand prix victory at the circuit.

Norris had closed in on McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri having initially dropped back by over three seconds, but was able to save life in his intermediate tyres to put the Australian's grasp of the race under scrutiny.

At this stage, it had become apparent that the circuit was ripe for a switch to slicks; Piastri got priority owing to his race lead, as McLaren left Norris out for one more lap to avoid losing time by double-stacking in the pitlane.

This proved to be the clincher, as Norris took his stop just as Fernando Alonso had been tagged into a spin by Liam Lawson at Turn 12. This forced Piastri to back off, ensuring Norris could exit the pitlane ahead. As the race remained under the safety car to clear up Alonso's stricken Aston Martin, Norris' lead was unchallenged.

Norris took his first F1 win in Miami last year having also caught a safety car at the right time, which put him ahead of Max Verstappen on track.

"My luck in Miami seems pretty good at the minute, so I'm happy," Norris said after the race. "But the pace was still very good.

"It's always just difficult, these races, you never know when to box. Do you box early? It paid off for Lewis and he had a good strategy. Or do you stay out later and maybe get the safety car, you know? So it's worked two years in a row.

"I probably would prefer if this happened tomorrow rather than today, but I'll take it. I'm happy. Good job by the team; it was good fun! "

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Team principal Andrea Stella added that it ended up not mattering whether Norris stopped or not due to the safety car, but wanted to avoid a "misery end" by pitting Norris.

Stella felt that, had the circuit not dried out, the two McLaren drivers would have enjoyed an "entertaining" battle for the lead given Norris' proximity.

"In hindsight, not pitting would have pretty much led to the same outcome, but it was the right thing to pit him at the time," Stella told Sky.

"There were really some fast lap times coming from cars on dry tyres, and it would have been too much of a risk of the tyres going off completely.

"It would have been a bit of a misery end of the race for Lando, so we decided to go. Oscar was ahead, we gave him priority and safety car seems to be playing into Lando's hands here in Miami.

"But in fairness to Lando, his pace was very strong. Already on the intermediate tyres, he was closing the gap to Oscar and without switching to the dry tyres, it could have been an entertaining battle between the two McLaren drivers."

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