Lando Norris wins his first Grand Prix and break the winning stranglehold of Max Verstappen, and does this mean we might have a Championship battle after all? Who knows, but time to celebrate a new winner. Talking of battles here is our 2024 Miami F1 Grand Prix Result Summary which covers both races and anything else of interest.
This 2024 Miami Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
READ MORE:
2024 Miami GP Preview
2024 Chinese Summary and Review
2024 Chinese Grand Prix Driver Ratings
Our 2024 F1 Calendar & Results
Our 2023 Full Season Reviews
2024 Miami F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Max Verstappen won the Saturday sprint race from pole position but seemed genuinely surprised with taking the pole at least. Lando Norris looked like he might take that pole and possibly a win but he ended up in the upper midfield. This proved a bigger problem when he was caught up in an Aston Martin squabble and was eliminated at the first turn. So Max Verstappen winning with ease from Leclerc and Perez isn’t news, but Daniel Ricciardo qualifying and finishing 4th was. Pity he couldn’t get it done in proper qualifying and was eliminated in Q1. The Mercedes look genuinely fourth best, much to the complaints of at least one of their drivers. McLaren and Ferraris look capable of taking second, with McLaren here in Miami with one and a half cars worth of upgrades. Although not an upgrade, was Ferraris pissweak effort to add blue to their car. Small things we know, but if Max Verstappen stays in front at the start small things are probably all we’ll have.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER LEC SAI PER NOR PIA RUS HAM HUL TSU
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets away perfectly, and Carlos Sainz zooms past Leclerc. Talking of zooming, Sergio Perez outbrakes himself into the first corner and with tyres smoking almost takes out his leading team mate. In the aftermath Oscar Piastri has moved up three places into third and Leclerc gets back past Sainz who is now 4th. Perez is left to fight with Lando Norris. Further back the Alpines race hard without crashing into each other, which is nice. Replays show Lewis Hamilton running George Russell wide in turn three and Russell losing places. Replays also show that Perez was millimetres off being the least popular driver in Holland and at Red Bull.
ORDER – VER LEC PIA SAI PER NOR HUL HAM TSU RUS
Lap 2 – Nico Hulkenberg sneaks by Lewis Hamilton for 7th. Oscar Piastri sets fastest lap. And is catching the Ferrari of Leclerc in front. Some kind of start for the Australian. Unlike the other Australian who is dead last.
Lap 4 – Oscar Piastri passes Charles Leclerc for second place into the hairpin on the back straight. Max Verstappen is two seconds in front. And the McLaren is faster. But Verstappen is probably just playin’.
Lap 7 – Carlos Sainz is on the radio “I feel like I have pace here”. Which translated from F1 to English is “Tell Leclerc to get the f— out of the way, please”. Talking of moaning on radio, Lewis Hamilton is back in front of Nico Hulkenberg for 7th. Lewis complaining that he almost had a big crash with Hulkenberg as he tried to pass. He’s probably right. But next glance at the TV Hulkenberg is back in front. It’s lap 10 by the time Hamilton is back in front again. The train of cars behind the Haas means Hulkenberg may not drop just the one position.
Lap 9 – Oscar Piastri is holding his own in second, but Max Verstappen edges the gap a little bit at a time. The interval is 2.6 seconds. Both Ferraris hounding the McLaren and each other, with Sergio Perez a safe 1.6 seconds behind them.
ORDER – VER PIA LEC SAI PER NOR HUL HAM RUS TSU
Lap 12 – With not much else happening, George Russell releases himself from the Hulkenberg train with a fine overtaking. The Haas pits at the end of the lap and stays in front of Stroll and Albon who were the first to pit. That’s a long stint if one stopping. And they aren’t fast enough to make a two stop work.
Lap 14 – Lando Norris is right on Sergio Perez’s tail, giving us a battle of consequence to follow. McLaren looks plenty quick. Imagine what Piastri can do when he gets the full upgrade. This pair are four second behind the Ferraris.
Lap 15 – Verstappen, Piastri and Leclerc all set fastest lap as the pace heats up before the critical tyre stops. Critical, because there won’t be much overtaking on track.
Lap 19 – Carlos Sainz has dropped off the battle for second. A tactic for saving tyres/car? We’ll see, as his team mate makes the first pit stop of the Ferraris. He comes out in between the Mercedes drivers in 5th/7th. Sergio Perez had previously pit but is behind the Mercedes and Yuki Tsunoda.
Lap 21 – Charles Leclerc makes easy work of passing Lewis Hamilton for 5th. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen radios in about hitting a bollard. Replay show he certainly does. Cutting the awkward chicane and hitting it front on. He wonders, like we all do, about damage to his car. The bollard remains in the middle of the track, so there could possibly be some kind of Safety Car to pick it up. Indeed there is.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
Track marshalls clean up the errant traffic device quickly, as quick as the teams pit for new tyres. As does the Virtual Safety Car itself. It ends after about 30 seconds.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR ENDS
Lap 23 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres regardless. This leaves Oscar Piastri in front of the Miami Grand Prix. He, Sainz, Norris, Mercedes and Tsunoda are yet to pit for top ten cars. Lando Norris sets a fastest lap to prove a point.
Lap 27 – McLarens are flying with Lando Norris the fastest man on track, and Oscar Piastri actually edging out a slightly bigger gap to Max Verstappen.
Lap 28 – Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz pit for new tyres. Piastri comes out behind not only Verstappen but Leclerc too. Just Lando Norris out in front yet to pit.
Crash! Logan Sargeant is involved. Kevin Magnussen is involved. Kevin Magnussen is at fault. Putting on a half arsed overtake without being near enough ahead. Or not ahead at all. Ironically Magnussen keeps going and Sargeant doesn’t as his car is in the wall.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
This gives Lando Norris a huge advantage for his pit stop. He’s out in front and cars behind will be slow. Norris pits and keeps the lead. But….the Safety Car has picked up Max Verstappen and slowed the field….So……Does Lando Norris slow? Or does the field get let by, therefore making the Safety Car a bit of a nonsense. Or if Lando Norris has to go around the track and then get in front, will he effectively be a lap in front? Well, either way, Lando Norris is on track to win a race.
ORDER – NOR VER LEC PIA SAI PER TSU HAM RUS OCO
SAFETY CAR ENDS
Lap 33 – The race restarts, Lando Norris leads. He was quick before the Safety Car, so here goes. He keeps his lead as the race restarts, as do all top drivers keep their spot. Yuki Tsunoda and Lewis Hamilton having a good battle for 7th – Hamilton eventually wins with a forceful move a few laps later. Lando Norris killing it, he pulls out a DRS-defying lead of over a second.
Lap 34 – Carlos Sainz attempts a move on Oscar Piastri into the back hairpin but Piastri shows his ice-coolness and rebuffs. Although Sainz spends the next few laps complaining about Piastri on the radio. Talking of rebuffing, Lando Norris is flying out in front – 1.5 second in front.
Lap 37 – Lando Norris 2.2 seconds in front and edging out by 0.2 per lap to Verstappen. Then he sets fastest lap. Things are looking real good.
Lap 40 – Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri swap places a few times. Sainz into the back hairpin and there looks like a touch. Piastri gets back past Sainz on the pit straights but goes wide at turn one and loses the place. Before the lap is done he loses two places to Perez and Hamilton. And gets a broken front wing for his troubles, plunging him lower than Ricciardo territory.
Lap 43 – 15 laps to go and Lando Norris leads by just over three seconds, and Max Verstappen is complaining about his car on the radio. Only bad luck or bad driving will harm him now.
ORDER – NOR VER LEC SAI PER HAM TSU RUS OCO ALO
Lap 46 – TV fixated on the battle for 9th between Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with Alonso eventually winning. Meanwhile, out in front Lando Norris is 5.5 second to the good. Which is good.
Lap 51 – An All-Australian battle for 16th lights up the screens for a while. Piastri flying before that with a fastest lap.
Lap 52 – Not long to go and Lando Norris is six seconds in front and cruising. He, and we, can all taste that first win.
Lap 54 – Alex Albon locks up and loses four places in one mistake. We almost forgot he was in the race. He’s now last.
Lap 55 – Oscar Piastri takes Daniel Ricciardo’s 15th place. Double good news for McLaren, Norris is one lap closer to maiden victory.
FINAL LAP – Lando Norris wins his first Grand Prix. He dominated the post Safety Car period and deserved his win. Max Verstappen’s bad day still means second place and extended lead in the Championship. But after this race, who is his long-term Championship is?
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR VER LEC SAI PER HAM TSU RUS ALO OCO
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS
A first win finally, and a result to match the potential in pace seen throughout the weekend. He may have got a little lucky with the timing of the Safety Car but he was the fastest man on the track just before and after it.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
OSCAR PIASTRI – Made a great start and took advantage of Perez’s efforts at the first turn to end up third from sixth on the grid. Takes second from Charles Leclerc and looked comfortable enough in second and the lead when he got the chance. Pit stops didn’t quite work out for him, but an impressive drive all the same. His work on keeping Carlos Sainz was superb and highly frustrating for the Ferrari driver. Sainz’s work on Piastri’s front wing with that pass is highly frustrating for Piastri.
YUKI TSUNODA – Solid weekend after his team mate took the attention with his fourth place in the sprint race. Made Q3 while Ricciardo was cut in Q1. Ran in the points throughout and matched pace of the Mercedes. A tsolid job done again.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Although he didn’t win, he still took a Sprint Race win and pole. And second place in the proper race is all good. Hit a bollard in the race for a rare mistake.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Ended up closer to the front in the race than he probably though possible.
ESTEBAN OCON – Racing for points in the Alpine is a decent effort.
THE GRAPE-EST – LOGAN SARGEANT
It must suck to be not that great at the best of times, but to do it at your home Grand Prix sucks even more. His exit into the wall wasn’t his fault at least, but still an unwanted end result.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
DANIEL RICCIARDO – Deserves to be in previous category for his outstanding 4th work in the Sprint Race, but you’re only as good as your last race, and he was indeed last in the race for a while after being cut in Q1. Meanwhile his team mate is fighting for points.
SERGIO PEREZ – Almost wipes out his team mate at the first corner. Was a little lacklustre in the race.
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – Picked up more penalties than Messi this weekend.
ASTON MARTIN – Not a great weekend for their drivers. Alonso better than Stroll of course. And as ever, Alonso still gets 9th place.
DANICA PATRICK – Offers zero as a F1 pundit. And that should be the amount of air time she gets.
FAKE MARINA – The Miami track is very meh. But particularly bad is the fake marina inside one of the turns.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
ON TRACK ACTION – 6 / 10
A good amount of action throughout the field, with the Safety Car mixing things up a little.
ANY SURPRISES? – 5 / 5
A non Red Bull dominating out in front. Yeah, that’s a surprise in F1 these days.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5
Still early days, but the improved form of the McLaren with its new upgrades means there could be more competition at the sharp end. Is this the turning point?
ENDING 7 / 10
Whilst not overly exciting for on track action at the end. Booting home a new race winner and one that isn’t driving a Red Bull is always exciting.
OVERALL RATING 23 / 30
Easily the best Miami Grand Prix of the ones so far. A new winner helps.
2024 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Why not check the latest race ratings – 2024 Chinese Grand Prix Ratings
Or check out our 2023 Season Driver Rankings and Stats
