Jolyon Palmer on Norris’ victory in Miami…

Former Formula 1 driver, expert of the official website of the championship Jolyon Palmer summarized the results of the Miami Grand Prix…

In my column after the Chinese Grand Prix I wrote that I would be surprised if Norris did not take his first victory in 2024, but I did not expect victory to come so quickly, in the next race!

McLaren brought the promised new products to Miami and was confident they would help propel the already fast car to a leading position.

The potential was visible in qualifying for the sprint, when Norris showed the best time on Medium tires in the second session, but with Soft in the final it proved to be more difficult – the softest tires were difficult to get into working mode. McLaren was unable to overcome this over the course of the weekend, meaning the drivers only started the race in fifth and sixth.

But on Sunday, when Norris found himself on the open track after Perez’s departure, McLaren’s only fully modified car (Oscar Piastri received only 50% of the new products) showed its potential in a series of laps that became decisive in the race.

Norris was faster than the rest, the team told him to forget about Perez and close the gap with the four cars in front of him. Verstappen struggled to hold the lead from Piastri and Leclerc, while Norris was some three-tenths faster than the Dutchman and set some of the fastest laps.

In race configuration, the updated McLaren car with Lando behind the wheel could have fought Red Bull on equal terms and without Verstappen’s problems, but several factors helped turn the situation in its favor.

On lap 21, Max went off track and hit the orange pole at Turn 15, prompting a virtual safety car. Red Bull said after the race that this caused damage to the lower left rear end and a slight loss of downforce.

I don’t think this was the deciding factor. Damage could have occurred, but it was minor because the driver – the most sensitive sensor in the car – didn’t feel the difference. You would expect him to react to the slightest change in the car’s behavior, but Max remained calm.

In these types of incidents, where the damaged underside cannot handle the load, there is usually oversteer, and Max had understeer that he tried to combat.

The safety car came out very quickly and in front of Verstappen’s car, and not race leader Norris, who eventually gained a half-lap lead. The situation proved confusing, but did not affect the outcome of the race.

I wonder, given McLaren’s upgrades and Norris’ pace, what would have happened if there had been no safety car in the race at all? Could Lando challenge Max?

Lando worked well with the Medium tires and rode at a decent pace. After the restart he did not have to overtake to take the win. He had the fastest car and once he took the lead he pulled away from his rivals in typical Verstappen fashion.

Without the Safety Car the battle for victory would have been more intense. After the pit stop, Norris would have been behind Verstappen and Leclerc, and possibly also behind Piastri and Sainz.

It’s not easy to overtake in Miami, so he probably wouldn’t have won, but with the speed he showed it would have been an interesting spectacle.

McLaren says this is just the beginning, but they didn’t expect Miami to have such a great weekend. Red Bull was unable to fully utilize the car’s potential. Max wasn’t feeling completely comfortable and although he won Saturday’s sprint, it wasn’t a win in his usual flashy style.

McLaren hopes for further progress at Imola, where Red Bull will compete in better form. I hope we will see even more serious battles for victory this year.