Lando Norris’s journey to his first Formula 1 win has been a long time coming. After a 110-race wait, the British driver finally stood on the top step of the podium at the Miami Grand Prix, capitalizing on perfect Safety Car timing to defeat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. This victory marked a significant turnaround for Norris and his McLaren team, who have faced their share of challenges in the past.
Norris came tantalizingly close to winning his first race at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, where he led from pole position until a late rain shower turned the tide in favor of Lewis Hamilton. Norris decided to stay on slick tires while Hamilton switched to Intermediates, leading to Norris’s ultimate defeat.
Reflecting on that pivotal moment in Russia, Norris explained that it wasn’t just a learning experience for him but also for his team.
He acknowledged that while the team didn’t enforce the call to pit enough, he also could have done better.
“Russia ‘21 was a very, very different situation to today,” he said. “A lot of people talk crap about Sochi and the things which went on and yes I potentially lost out on a victory, I did lose out on a victory.
“I and we, I think. I never want to drag the team down. I didn’t do the best of jobs and as a team, we didn’t.”
He noted that this year, his focus and confidence were stronger than ever.
“I felt more confident than ever. I wasn’t thinking of these things. Like, probably last year I would have thought of it. But this year I’ve been much better with just kind of keeping my mind focused and focusing on my job,” Norris explained.
Norris was smiling as he neared the finish line in Miami, and it was a moment filled with joy.
Noris admitted that during the race that he wasn’t dwelling on past mistakes or fears of something going wrong. Instead, he was already planning his victory celebration as he pulled away from Max Verstappen, saying, “I was smiling. And I was thinking like, ‘how am I going to celebrate? What am I going to say’?
“A lot of people doubted that I could go out and win races and perform under the pressure of leading the race, especially with Max behind you,” Norris said.
He embraced the skepticism, often engaging with fans on social media.
“As much as I love to see it and I go on Instagram and I like all the comments of people abusing me, I freaking love it. It makes me smile more than anything, especially Lando No-wins. That’s become the thing.
“And yeah, for me to finally prove those people wrong and prove to people that didn’t think I could go out and do it, it’s put an even bigger smile on my face today,” he added.
Andrea Stella also shared his thoughts on how the 2021 Russian Grand Prix was a turning point for the team.
He acknowledged that the team didn’t enforce the call to pit strongly enough, which led to their missed opportunity for victory. McLaren had access to the forecast, a view of the whole lap and where the weather was coming from, unlike their driver.
“But if I go back to that race, I think responsibility is on the pit wall as we didn’t enforce the call to pit enough,” Stella said.
“The driver on track, he doesn’t see if it is raining somewhere else. We could see it. It was our limitation in not enforcing Lando to pit, so even in that case he was delivering the job, but we were not ready, in a way, to achieve the victory.”
