Lando Norris crossed the finish line in Miami with a forced smile. It was not he, but his teammate Oscar Piastri who took the victory. This was despite the fact that the Brit started from the front row. “I didn’t do well enough,” he admitted.
“I can’t blame the team,” Norris reflected immediately after the race. “We had a good pace and the pit stop was good. Oscar drove well and Max Verstappen, as always, didn’t give up easily. I had to pay the price for that, but it is what it is.”
The McLaren driver elaborated further on this. “If I don’t go for it, people complain. If I do go for it, people also complain. You can never do it right. But that’s how it is with Max. It’s either crash or not get past. You really have to maneuver yourself into the perfect position, and then maybe you can make it. I didn’t do that well enough and it took its toll. But I’m still quite happy with the second place.”
“I should be very happy with the third place,” George Russell responded after the race. “I’ve been struggling a bit with my performance all weekend. To then achieve such a result at the last minute is, of course, very good. I can only congratulate McLaren, they are really on another level.” Russell was lucky with a virtual safety car, but then also managed to keep Max Verstappen behind him. “I stayed calm and felt very comfortable with the car,” he continued. “That certainly helped.”
