Anthony Davidson has come out praising McLaren for introducing a phenomenal upgrade package. As the Papaya team bagged a win in Miami, the former F1 driver is expecting tougher competition for Red Bull.
He is, however, cautious of making sweeping claims on McLaren’s behalf before seeing consistent results. The Mercedes sim driver, in a recent interview with Sky F1, said,
“This is a serious upgrade on McLaren’s side. They had rear wing, floor, front wing, you name it! They had developed that car brilliantly well. It’s done exactly what they wanted it to do from the wind tunnel’s point of view. It correlates beautifully to what they’re seeing back at base and that’s the key in trying to bridge the gap to Red Bull.”
Ever since the bad start to the 2023 season, McLaren has seen a steady uptick in performance. After undoing the flawed concept they fielded in 2023, the Woking-based team excelled with each upgrade package. After establishing themselves as the second fastest in the second half of the season, they carried that form in 2024.
The upgrades brought in Miami are just another testament to the development path they’ve taken. Red Bull had no answers to the challenge as Lando Norris controlled the race brilliantly after he took the lead following the safety car period. The Briton built an average lead of three-tenths of a second over a lap ahead of Verstappen in P2.
It wasn’t all on merit, though. Verstappen, after losing control over the chicane, collided with the bollard, taking damage to the floor of his car. The resultant drop in downforce played well into the hands of Lando Norris who made the most of the opportunity. This was his first career victory in 110 F1 races.
Was Miami GP a lucky win for Lando Norris?
From the timely safety car to the damage to Max Verstappen’s car, several factors played into McLaren’s hands for Lando Norris’ maiden victory. However, it would be unfair to rule out the phenomenal upgrades introduced by the Woking team.
Norris himself provided fodder to the naysayers by putting an asterisk over his win. He too highlighted the importance of luck in his Grand Prix win. Even Donald Trump, who visited the McLaren garage before the race, dubbed himself as Norris’ lucky charm.
RacingNews365 quoted Norris as saying, “He [Trump] said he was my lucky charm because it’s my win. So I don’t know if he’s going to come to more races now. But there’s a lot of special people or cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you got to have a lot of respect for in many ways.”
Verstappen: Damage to the surface? I did the same times before and after the long chicane. I didn’t like that pin and I hit it, so I also did a crash test on the front wing and it passed. I was lucky, the diffuser was scratched, it was a close call on disaster for the team.
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) May 6, 2024
Max Verstappen, who saw the victory snatched away from his hands, too saw things from a lighter perspective. In the post-race press conference, when asked if he could have won had there been no safety car intervention, the Dutchman came up with an iconic reply, “It’s always if, if, if, right? If my mum had ba***, she would be my dad. It’s how it goes in racing. Sometimes it works out for you, sometimes it doesn’t“.
