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Shame in Miami: FIA mistakes cast a bit of doubt over Norris' win
- Ludo van Denderen
Nobody in the F1 paddock begrudged Lando Norris his first-ever victory in Formula 1, but fair is fair: the Briton was arguably not the driver who deserved the win in Miami. A massive blunder by the FIA meant Max Verstappen was denied the win. A look back at a string of mistakes by the safety car driver, German Bernd Mayländer.
The 28th and 29th laps of the race eventually proved key. Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen collided, and the safety car was required. Norris held the lead at that point, as - unlike Verstappen - he had not yet been able to make a pit stop. However, the McLaren Briton did not come in as he realised just too late that the safety car was coming. This seemed to ruin Norris' chance to take advantage of the safety car.
Mayländer made a big mistake
12 seconds after the computer showed that the safety car was coming out, Norris crossed the start-finish line; again, just under five seconds later, he was at the end of the pit lane - where the safety car should normally have caught him. Driver Bernd Mayländer, however, had failed to catch Norris 17 seconds after race control had called the safety car into the track. On the face of it, 17 seconds would have been enough for that anyway, but okay. Then Mayländer made a huge mistake: instead of waiting at the side of the track for the next moment when Norris would pass start-finish, he picked up Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman - at that moment second in the race - had to ease off the throttle, while Norris could continue at higher speed AND was still offered the chance to make his pit stop. Ultimately, this was the key moment in the race: Norris could stay ahead again after his stop, on brand new tyres, to start from first place at the restart. After the safety car ended, he drove further and further away from Verstappen.
Norris is not to blame
The way Norris managed to drive away from the Red Bull driver in the latter part of the race is admirable. But Norris would never have been in front at the restart if the FIA had responded more adequately and better to the safety car situation. In that case, the Brit would have been sitting somewhere around seventh place at the time and - despite his speed - he would never have managed to catch Verstappen then.
Of course, Norris is not to blame at all. He did what any driver in his situation would have done: take full advantage of what was handed to him on a silver platter. But the FIA should be ashamed after so much incompetence in barely two minutes, with Bernd Mayländer at the centre of it: Was he not paying attention? Did he not realise that Norris was in the lead? A big blunder with equally huge consequences.