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The 2024 F1 Miami GP, to the surprise of many, was a breath of fresh air. A race weekend that saw Lando Norris win his first race will always be interesting, especially if we add that this led to Max Verstappen losing a race purely on pace for the first time since 2023 (Baku to Sergio Perez).
The emotion from everyone involved when they hugged Lando Norris was palpable. So was the love that Norris received from his counterparts for his first win, with so many of them walking up to him to congratulate him.
With Max Verstappen extending his lead at the top of the championship and partying till the sun rises with Lando Norris after the F1 Miami GP, who would be happy with how the race weekend panned out, and who would be a bit unhappy? Let's take a look.
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2024 F1 Miami GP
Winner
Lando Norris and McLaren
This was a long time coming for Lando. He had the pace throughout the weekend, but he also had the luck for things to just fall into place enough for him to make a difference.
Lando 'NoWins' is the common online abuse that Lando Norris has faced for a while now, as he himself admitted afterwards. For a change, he got the opportunity to show what he could do in a fast car, and he showed that he could beat the best driver on the grid as well.
The win at the F1 Miami GP was Lando Norris' trust in McLaren paying off. The Woking-based squad is slowly becoming a bigger and bigger factor at the front.
Loser
Kevin Magnussen
This was just an overall poor weekend in terms of driving standards from Kevin Magnussen. The defense against Lewis Hamilton got worse and worse as the battle continued, and he certainly crossed the line quite a few times.
To add another two points to it, his collision with Logan Sargeant was just poor. At 10 penalty points, Kevin is one mistake away from facing a one-race ban.
Winner
Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc has been slowly but steadily inculcating a very mature approach to his driving. In the eyes of many, he was maybe too cautious against Max at the start of the sprint. He possibly was but then there was a gain of only one point on the table and it didn't make sense to ruin a strong position he found himself in.
Even during the 2024 F1 Miami GP, the key facet that stood out was Leclerc's ability to just keep his composure, and bide his time until the opportune moment came. A P3 result is not a bad one as he continues to build a strong season.
Loser
Logan Sargeant
If there is even a hint of truth in what the reports suggest, Logan Sargeant just had his last US GP. Unfortunately, it's not the one that he will remember for a long time. The driver had a strong sprint. In the race, however, even before the collision with Kevin Magnussen, Logan was not in a strong position.
The American is battling a bit too much on and off track, and the results are sadly not justifiable.
Winner
Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon was slightly lucky with the Virtual Safety car timings, as it helped save some time in the pitstop. He was also a tad unlucky in qualifying, where power unit issues cost him a tenth and a half. The French driver overall was still brilliant in dragging the car to P10. It's safe to say that Alpine has improved over the first six races. It's also safe to say that the car is still not good enough for points.
If Hulkenberg had not been compromised by the virtual safety car, a point was probably not on the table for Alpine. All of this does boost Ocon's stock who continues to be the flag bearer for the team and did so again at the F1 Miami GP.
Loser
Oscar Piastri
As the 2024 F1 Miami GP race weekend came to an end, Oscar Piastri found himself with only 42 points to his name. That's nothing when you compare it to Lando Norris, who has 83 points in the bag.
The start of the F1 Miami GP was just a dream for Oscar, as he was running in P2 quite comfortably. Unfortunately for him, the safety car timing was at the worst possible moment.
Having said that, being entangled with Sainz instead of attacking Leclerc, who had almost 10 laps older tires, was what cost Oscar. His race pace is still a concern, and the F1 Miami GP showed that in abundance.
