MIAMI — There was a lot going through Lando Norris‘ head as he started the final lap of Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
Since the age of seven, when first stepped into a go-kart, this was the moment his entire racing career had been building towards. It was a moment that had somehow evaded him during his previous 109 races in F1 and one that any driver needs to make the final step into the top echelon of the sport.
So as his McLaren continued to extend the gap over Max Verstappen‘s Red Bull in second place during the final lap, his thoughts started to focus on how to mark the occasion at the chequered flag.
– Norris beats Verstappen in Miami GP for first F1 win
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What should he say on team radio that would fit the moment? What would sum up the emotions?
And what would lay to waste the “Lando NoWins” nickname that has plagued his Instagram account since his last true opportunity of victory slipped through his fingers at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix?
“I was smiling and thinking, how am I going to celebrate? What am I going to say?” Norris said after the race. “I’m not very good at kind of just coming up with these things and improvising when that situation comes, so I was rehearsing my lines.
“But when I went over the line, I just turned into something else. I don’t know what it is. It’s just that you’re happy.
“Once you cross the line, then you just let go.”
What came out sounded wonderfully unrehearsed — a true burst of emotion, the sort reserved by the human body for occasions of pure ecstasy.
“WOOOOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOOO! About f—— time!” he blurted to his race engineer. “Finally! Finally! I’m so happy.
“I knew it when I came in this morning, I said today is the day of opportunity and I nailed it, and you nailed it.”
Lando Norris becomes the first McLaren driver to win in the United States since Lewis Hamilton at the 2012 Austin GP 🧡
They both drove with the number 4 on their cars 🤝 pic.twitter.com/TzgLCDDfKp
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) May 5, 2024
Norris may have had a good feeling when he arrived at the Hard Rock stadium on Sunday morning, but after the first lap of the Miami Grand Prix his optimism had waned.
While teammate Oscar Piastri had vaulted up to third place in the mess created by Sergio Pérez‘s attempt to divebomb two Ferraris at the first corner, Norris had dropped from fifth on…
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