In the press conference following the Miami Grand Prix, between questions and answers we tried to understand with the direct protagonists how much the safety car helped Lando Norris in his race towards his first victory in Formula 1. “Who knows, I should have exceeded the two Ferrari, a Red Bull and Oscar, who was having a great race.” At that point a lively Max Verstappen intervened: “There are always so many assumptions, ‘if’, ‘if’, ‘if’… then I say that if my mother had balls she would be my father, right? In the end these are races, sometimes they come together and sometimes they don’t.” And then laughter.
In reality, the analysis of the race is aimed at understanding whether McLaren’s speed would have been sufficient to take away the leadership from Red Bull even without the race being frozen, an important fact from a future perspective. Before his pit stop Norris was leader of the race but virtually sixth, given that his direct rivals had already completed their pit stops. The entry of the safety car onto the track effectively guaranteed Lando a gain of five positions. Only Fortune? No. Norris started the race on a set of medium tyres, the choice made by all the drivers in the top-10 except Hamilton. Having finished sixth at the start, Lando remained on the track for 16 laps in very close contact with the rear of Perez’s Red Bull, usually a position that doesn’t help the life of the tyres.
Finding himself on a clear track (Checo made his pit stop on lap 17) Norris began a notable push, lapping at a very fast and tremendously constant pace. “My tires look like new,” Lando told his engineer over the radio, and in fact the stopwatch supported his feeling. Two laps after Perez’s pit stop Leclerc stopped, then on lap 23 it was Verstappen’s turn and on 27 Piastri and Sainz. Norris continued his march at the direction of the team, intent on extending his stint as much as possible. A choice made possible by the times printed by Norris and dictated by two reasons: having a tire gap on the opponents in the second stint and being ready to take advantage of a possible safety car period. A lap and a half was enough and there was contact between Magnussen and Sargeant.
The safety car Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
In reality, the race direction waited a while before reporting the freezing of the race since Magnussen had managed to return to the track independently and it was not clear whether Sargeant would also do the same. When it became clear that Williams would not be able to continue, the signal was given. At that moment Norris was lined up with the entrance to the pit lane and to enter he would have had to brake and swerve suddenly, a risky manoeuvre. The team thus decided to leave the track, and Lando continued on the starting straight. Despite the McLaren’s reduced speed, the safety car (placed at the pit exit) did not have time to come out before Norris passed. If Bernd Maylander had marched in front of Lando all the drivers on the track would have arrived behind him and after the pit stop Norris would have found himself in the last positions, but instead the first driver to arrive behind the safety car was Verstappen.
Norris thus had a solo lap available before arriving in the pits to change tyres. As soon as the McLaren returned to the track, the race direction asked Maylander to wait for Norris and allow the rest of the group to follow Lando. Once the race resumed, Norris was able to count on three factors to take off: new tyres, a clear track and a Red Bull (Verstappen’s) not at maximum efficiency. Before the safety car Max had hit a cone at turn 14, and after a few laps the Red Bull engineers were able to verify that the impact had caused damage to the bottom of the car. “We lost load,” admitted Christian Horner, and his lap times confirm it. The delay accumulated towards Norris under the checkered flag was almost eight seconds, a margin perhaps sufficient to hypothesize that Lando was capable of winning his first race in Formula 1 even without external help. It matters little to McLaren and Norris himself, but it becomes an important issue in view of Imola, a weekend in which Piastri will also be able to count on the 2.0 version of the MCL38.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, in the pits for the pit stop
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Why did Verstappen pit so early?
Verstappen seemed to have everything under control in the early stages of the race. The first pursuer was Oscar Piastri, who moved up to second place with a good start and an overtake against Charles Leclerc. Verstappen wasn’t able to break away well, but there wasn’t even a direct risk of an undercut from the Australian. It was only Charles Leclerc’s early pit stop on lap 19 that caused unrest in the Red Bull command post.
Ferrari drove a second faster than Verstappen on new tires and without traffic. When the margin was still around three seconds, Red Bull pulled the ripcord and brought the world champion back on lap 23. This is exactly what Ferrari had intended, as team principal Frederic Vasseur later explained: “With Charles’ early pit stop, we wanted to force the others to react. For us, the long distance remaining was not a problem because we know how well our car handles tire bypasses.”
Red Bull’s pursuers are now so close that they can use the strategy to apply pressure. Last year this was not possible. Suddenly Red Bull is vulnerable. According to team principal Christian Horner, a second problem also occurred in Miami: “Max went over the bollard in the chicane and damaged the underbody. This cost him his pace.” When Verstappen was asked about this at the press conference, he reacted with surprise: “Afterwards the car didn’t look any different from before.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20 after hitting a pin
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
#luck #Norris #victory #scary
