Max Verstappen has won the Miami Grand Prix, and in doing so achieved a feat not seen in the sport in nearly four decades.
Verstappen is the first since the late Niki Lauda for McLaren at the 1984 French Grand Prix at Dijon to win from ninth on the grid.
“I call that simply f—ing lovely,” he said on team radio on the cool down lap.
READ MORE: Pies’ ominous message after Daicos tag backfires
READ MORE: DCE stat that will leave Sea Eagles sickened
READ MORE: Parramatta suffers huge blow in shock loss
Verstappen started on the hard tyres, and carved his way through the field to be second behind his teammate and polesitter Sergio Perez by lap 15.
The Dutchman ran far and away the longest first stint on the field, and didn’t pit until the end of lap 45.
Verstappen emerged from the pits just over a second behind Perez, who had to that point controlled the race from the front.
It took Verstappen just three laps on the fresh tyres to get past Perez, and from there was never headed.
Fernando Alonso was third for Aston Martin – his fourth podium from the five races so far this season.
It was a miserable day for McLaren, who were the only two cars in the field to start on the soft tyres.
Both seemed to get good starts, but Norris dropped back to 19th and second last after being punted at the first corner by the AlphaTauri of Nyck De Vries.
Oscar Piastri made up five spots on the first lap and was running in 14th when he made an early stop to get rid of the soft tyres.
From there, neither McLaren ever threatened the points – finishing the race 17th (Norris) and 19th (Piastri).
For only the 14th time in the history of the sport, all cars finished the race.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
F1 testing in pictures: what we learned after every 2023 car was unveiled
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
