Lando Norris gives speech to McLaren staff after returning home with first winner’s trophy | F1 | Sport
Lando Norris returned the Miami Grand Prix winner’s trophy to the McLaren Technology Centre ahead of this weekend’s race in Imola, giving a speech to the legions of hard workers at Woking who contributed to his maiden F1 race win.
McLaren arrived in Miami with a staggering 10 upgrades for their 2024 challenger and they made an immediate impact. When a well-timed safety car handed Norris the lead around the halfway mark of the race, he stretched his legs and opened up a seven-second lead over reigning champion Max Verstappen to seal a first-ever Grand Prix victory.
His team-mate, Oscar Piastri, will also have the upgrades in Imola, while Ferrari are also set to introduce a major upgrade package. With these factors in play, Verstappen and Red Bull are set to face considerable on-track opposition for the first time since the early stages of 2022.
Celebrating his win, Norris pulled into the McLaren Technology Centre with the Miami GP trophy in the passenger seat of his £350,000 McLaren 765LT Spider supercar with hundreds of the team’s staff lined up along the edge of the lake to serenade their latest race winner and welcome him back home to Woking.
Norris was then welcomed by Michael Leiters, CEO of McLaren Automotive Ltd, who introduced him to the staff before asking him some questions. “It’s all of them,” the Bristol-born driver responded when asked what emotions he feels looking back on the race.
“I thought of everything possible, good and bad. What goes through your head? First thing is just like breathe, because sometimes I forget to breathe when I’m leading a race. And that was it, like stay calm. Until that point, things were going to plan, but I was confident. I was surprisingly calm, I thought.”
Asked what was next, Norris added: “Just another one! Another one for now, that’s a good start. As much as I’m happy with one, two sounds better. I mean we’re in a great position. The team have done really an amazing job. I’m very, very proud to be part of this team.
“To have witnessed and been part of being there, literally as far down as you can get, to standing at the very top for the first time in my life. So we’re happy with one race win… we want two, we want three.”