“It’s been a long time coming,” said an emotional Lando Norris in the moments after he became only the fifth British driver this century to win a Formula One race, and the 21st in all.
His millionaire businessman father Adam Norris – integral in bankrolling Lando’s rise to the pinnacle of motor racing – estimated his son had competed in close to 900 competitive races prior to his greatest triumph on the world stage in Miami.
Norris has long been considered a star of the F1 grid after following in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton by making his debut in Australia for McLaren, a dozen seasons after his compatriot, in 2019. In doing so, Glastonbury-born Norris, then 19, became the first British teenager in F1 history.
Norris boasted an impressive junior resume, and he looked at home in F1 – an instant match for the established Carlos Sainz in their two seasons together at McLaren before Norris effectively sent Daniel Ricciardo into early retirement after he wiped the floor with the eight-time winner in 2021 and 2022.
But unlike Hamilton in 2007, Norris was not thrust into a world championship-winning machine. And despite Norris’ obvious talent – Red Bull have enquired on multiple occasions about his availability – his failure to win a race was beginning to cast a shadow over his career.
Norris might have triumphed in Russia in 2021 before a late downpour rattled him. He should have switched to wet tyres, but both Norris and his McLaren team – by then almost a decade without a win – dithered, and Norris’ victory disappeared before his eyes. Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph admitted in Miami that he is still haunted by that afternoon on Sochi’s Black Sea.
In Japan last September, Norris became the highest F1 scorer without a win. Fast-forward to Australia in March, and Norris was the bearer of more unwanted history – this time, becoming the first man ever to stand on the podium as many as 14 times without taking to the top step.
“When are you going to win a race, Lando?” goaded a fan in Melbourne. Norris replied with the middle finger and the unsavoury exchange was splattered all over social media. He then became the subject of a meme: ‘Lando No-wins’.
Another second place – his eighth in total – followed in China last month only for Norris’ golden moment to finally arrive in his 110th appearance – a memory he will never forget, not least because former United States president Donald Trump was among the first to congratulate him.
When a shy, possibly introverted, Norris entered F1, he would lock himself away in his hotel room, and play computer games. Not any more. Norris, an immensely popular figure in the paddock, arrived in Miami with a cut on his nose following a boozy boat party in Amsterdam with friends.
Norris, linked to Portuguese model and actress Margarida Corceiro, claimed the injury was caused when he inadvertently drunk from a broken bottle.
And with the 24-year-old rearranging his travel plans – on the insistence of the team’s CEO and his F1 father figure Zak Brown – to celebrate his landmark win in Miami, the British driver vowed: “I’m not going to sleep. I’m going all the way. I might have more than a scratch on my nose!”
