5 Winners and 5 Losers from the Miami Grand Prix – Who was making hay in the Sunshine State?
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.
6th May 2024. 16:03.
Lawrence Barretto
F1 Correspondent & Presenter
Formula One - Official Site

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.

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

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.

‘5 Winners and 5 Losers’;

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...tmXMpXz64HRhW7


Just how close did "lucky" Red Bull come to Miami GP "disaster"?
Sergio Perez almost took out Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen at the first corner of the Miami Grand Prix.
06 May 2024
Lewis Larkam
Crash.Net

Red Bull’s participation in the F1 Miami Grand Prix nearly ended at the first corner following a close call between teammates Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen. After making a fast start, Perez looked to dive down the inside of both Ferraris as he attempted to jump up to second, but the Mexican could not slow down his car and locked up heavily into Turn 1.

Onboard footage from Perez’s car showed he came within inches of wiping out Verstappen before running wide and dropping down to fifth. “In hindsight, if I knew there was no grip on the inside, I wouldn’t have gone there in the first place,” said Perez, who finished fifth on the road but was promoted to fourth following a post-race penalty for Carlos Sainz.

"I went there because I thought it was going to be safe. But as soon as I hit the brakes, I could see that the car wouldn’t stop. I ended up front locking and I went straight. That meant basically that I nearly took Max out, so I had to release the brake to release the front locking.” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted Perez was “lucky” not to hit his teammate after what he described as being an “optimistic” start.

‘Nearly ended at the first corner’;

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/104801...mi-gp-disaster


Christian Horner details 'a lot of damage' to Max Verstappen car after Miami mistake
Max Verstappen finished second in the Miami Grand Prix.
08:48, Mon, May 6, 2024
By Charlie Parker-Turner
Daily and Sunday Express

The collision with the bollard cost Verstappen a significant amount of time, and Lando Norris ultimately capitalised to win his first-ever Grand Prix. The McLaren star inherited the lead on Lap 29 after a Safety Car was deployed following Logan Sargeant’s crash. Norris then masterfully saw off the challenge of Verstappen to land the spoils by 7.6 seconds, with his post-safety car tyres also proving decisive in the final stages of the contest.

Speaking after the race, Horner heaped praise on Verstappen for managing to secure a second-place finish in Miami after his rare mistake. He said: “He hit the bollard around Lap 20 and that's actually done quite a lot of damage to the underside of the car. So we'll have to look at exactly what the effects of that was. But he had enough pace at that point, he was pulling clear of Oscar [Piastri] behind and Lando before he picked up that damage and then, obviously, thereafter we then pitted.”

"And yeah, the safety car came out at the best time for Lando, which gave him essentially a free stop. But, obviously, not great for us because then you're on tyres six or seven laps older. And with the damage, I think that actually second place was actually still a pretty decent result." Horner went on to provide details on the time that Verstappen lost as a result of the collision, both from the incident itself and because of the damage he sustained. He explained: “He lost two and a half tenths every lap in turn one. Now whether that was because of the damage, I think when you actually see the pictures of what was missing it wasn't designed like that."

‘Lot of damage to Max Verstappen car’;

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...Red-Bull-Miami


Sainz "could have won" F1 Miami GP by pitting one lap later
06 May 2024, 13:39
Pablo Elizalde
Motorsport.com

Sainz was running in front of Norris but had pitted a lap earlier, under race conditions, dropping to fifth by the time the accident occurred. Had Ferrari waited another lap, Sainz feels he would have emerged in the lead with a shot at winning the race.

"Frustrated, because we were ahead of him before that pitstop before the safety car," said Sainz of his race. "If we would have extended one more lap, we would've caught the safety car and we could have won the race too."

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur acknowledged the poor timing of the safety car, and joked that he "forgot the crystal ball". He said: "I was not aware that Sargeant and Magnussen would crash the lap after! Of course, when you are in this situation, you are a bit unlucky – or I would say probably that Lando was a bit lucky, because he was the only one on track.”

"Forgot the crystal ball";

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/s...ater/10607736/


Albon brands Miami GP ‘one of the most challenging races I’ve had with Williams’
05 May 2024
Formula One - Official Site (Video)

Alex Albon said he and Williams need to investigate their performance in Miami after admitting he had been “struggling all weekend” on his way to 19th place at the flag.

‘Most challenging races’;

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/v...476196700.html


Sargeant feeling 'comfortable' despite rumors of potential seat loss
05/05/2024 at 19:36
Michael Delaney
F1i.com

News of a dispensation request filed with the FIA to grant Antonelli, who is currently 17, an exemption from the minimum age requirement to compete in F1 only further fueled the speculaton.

It’s unclear who filed the request with the governing body, but Mercedes boss Toto Wolff dismissed in Miami the possibility of promoting Antonelli to a race seat in F1 anytime soon, given that the Italian’s main focus is on the FIA Formula 2 Championship.

Nevertheless, when questioned about the growing reports suggesting his potential mid-season demise, Sargeant was unfazed by the stories and innuendo. “You know, I talked to James [Vowles, Williams team principal] internally. I talked to my managers. I’m comfortable,” he said in Miami, quoted by Motorsport Week. “That’s all internal talk. So I’m not, I’m not going to say anything.”

‘Feeling comfortable';

https://f1i.com/news/507142-sargeant...seat-loss.html


‘What happened today is not good’ – Magnussen downbeat after Sargeant collision and stewards’ penalties
05 May 2024
Formula One - Official Site (Video)

Kevin Magnussen had what he called “not a good day” after he had a collision with Logan Sargeant, was then hit with multiple penalties and ended the race down in P18.

“Not a good day”;

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/v...401776108.html