Norris' crash a blessing in disguise? 'No chance to measure him'
F1 News
Martin Brundle has connected Lando Norris' jubilant win in Miami to Ayrton Senna's first victory in his home country. The Sky Sports commentator also highlights how the crash in Saturday's sprint race kept Norris' race pace a mystery for rival teams in Miami.
Norris won the Miami Grand Prix and that gave him his first Formula 1 victory in his career. The McLaren driver benefitted from a timely safety car but still had the pace to open up a seven-second lead over second-placed Max Verstappen. But Brundle wonders if this wasn't the only 'lucky' benefit for the Brit.
"He was unceremoniously knocked out of the Sprint on Saturday and so we didn't have chance to measure him in that 19-lap dash. It's easy to say that the safety car on lap 28 was lucky for them, but it's more nuanced than that. Max was having to push hard and he made a rare mistake at the turn 14/15 chicane. Creating more 'luck' McLaren, could run longer and faster which eventually opened up the opportunity to pit when the safety car was deployed," Brundle said on Sky Sports.
Norris' win compared to one of the greats
Brundle compared Norris' win in Miami to Senna's first win in front of his home fans. The Brazilian started on either the first or second row of the grid between 1986 and 1990 but didn't win the race. Eventually, in 1991, Senna got the job done and the crowd went crazy. Brundle also remmbers home wins for Mansell and Ferrari.
"I've rarely witnessed a universally popular victory in Formula 1 over the decades such as we experienced with Lando Norris in Miami. Ayrton Senna winning the 1991 Brazilian GP is right up there," Brundle added before also remembering the home win for Mansell [Silverstone 1992] and any Ferrari win at Monza.
"Even Lando's greatest rivals were happy for him, and of course it was long overdue for both driver (particularly) and team to win a Grand Prix main event rather than Sprint," he concluded.