On the 46th lap of the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, race leader Lando Norris made a crucial call not to change tyres as a late rain shower hit the circuit.
That gutsy but misguided decision doomed the McLaren driver’s chances of a first grand prix victory at his 53rd attempt. It would be two-and-a-half years before he would get another opportunity to fight for a race win, now in his 110th event.
But this time, choose to stay out as many of his rivals pitted earlier was the race-winning call.
Following on from a Shanghai sprint weekend where Max Verstappenhad been untouchable once again, it appeared it would be business as usual in Miami for the second straight sprint weekend. The world champion held a monopoly over first place over Friday and Saturday, while Norris in his newly-upgraded McLaren had failed to capitalise on his promising pace on Friday before being eliminated from the sprint race at turn one.
For Sunday’s main event, Verstappen would yet again have the best starting position on the grid with both Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr closest to him in second and third. Norris sat fifth on the grid, ahead of McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri and behind Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull. All five of them fitted medium compound tyres for the opening stint, with Lewis Hamilton the only driver among the top 14 starters choosing hard rubber.
Leclerc got threateningly close to challenging Verstappen for the lead into the first corner at the start of Saturday’s sprint race, later admitting he decided that the reward was not worth the risks. However, with a potential grand prix victory on the line, Verstappen knew to expect a much stronger threat from Leclerc.
He surely did not predict the greatest danger would come from his own team mate.
As the field launched off the line, Verstappen got a much cleaner getaway than he had the day prior, while Leclerc quickly found himself sandwiched between Sainz to his left and Perez to his right. As they all hit the brakes for turn one, Perez flew by the Ferraris and came so close to wiping out Verstappen it seems he grazed the diffuser of the leading RB20.
“I went there because I thought it was going to be safe,” Perez later explained. “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…
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