The 2024 Miami GP won’t be a race that McLaren’s Lando Norris will forget anytime soon because, after six years in F1 with the Woking-based team, the #4 driver finally claimed his maiden Grand Prix win that race weekend. And it was a turning point for not only the Briton but also for the team.
The BBC conducted a series of interviews with McLaren during last season, and one of them also took place when they asked Norris to share his thoughts about his first win. The 25-year-old admitted that a win was transformational but from a racing perspective, it was paradoxically not that life-changing.
“In some ways, a lot has changed, but also nothing’s changed. I think it’s more just personally for myself, knowing I’ve been able to do what I got to do to win a race. And it just allows you to click that little bit more and just give yourself a little bit more confidence of every weekend,” he explained.
LANDO NORRIS WINS THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX!!!!
IT’S A MAIDEN WIN FOR THE @MCLARENF1 DRIVER
SIMPLY STUNNING!!!!!#F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/pxGX4LvTNL
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 5, 2024
McLaren had worked tirelessly on their ground effects concept since the 2023 season. Despite starting last in the pecking order at the 2023 Bahrain GP, the team made substantial gains on their car as the season progressed.
And their efforts finally came to fruition at the Miami GP last year. Norris admitted that the win was required for the team to embark on a trajectory that would win them the Constructors’ title, and it did.
How Miami GP win helped Norris to win McLaren the title in Abu Dhabi
During the interview, the #4 driver explained that after his win in Miami, the team needed to pick up the momentum and rack up race wins and points for the Constructors’ title. “If we can bring home some more trophies this year and bring home a Constructors, this will be an incredible feat for the whole team,” he added.
By the time the season-finale at Abu Dhabi had come along, Norris had picked up two more wins in the Netherlands and Singapore. Meanwhile, his teammate Oscar Piastri also tasted success as he picked up his maiden F1 win at the 2024 Hungarian GP and followed it up with another victory at the Baku Street Circuit.
This meant that what Norris had theorized had become a reality. The Woking-based team went into the season-finale locked in a tight battle with Ferrari for the Constructors’ crown. But all hell broke loose on lap one at the Yas Marina Circuit as Piastri was spun around by Max Verstappen.
The onus was now, therefore, on Norris to get the team that title as he needed to win to get the team over the line. And the confidence from that first victory in Miami surely paid off as he wrapped up his fourth win of his season and got McLaren their first Constructors’ trophy since the 1998 season.
