english love affair | lando norris

10

10

Sunday, 5th May, 4:52 pm

Race day - our favourite day of this weekend. Due to there being sprint races, the whole schedule of the days felt confusing. Aurora and I watched on from the grandstands for the Sprint qualifying and the Sprint Race, but today we decided to watch it from the back of the garage.

Bottas had impeded Oscar during qualifying, earning him a 3-place penalty, and another few incidents saw other drivers given time penalties for their offences.

For the Sprint, Max had started on pole, with Charles in second and Checo in third. Lando had been caught in a spin at the first corner, which caused him to not finish the race. Lance also retired his car, and Esteban served his time penalty under the Safety Car.

In his best finish of the season, Daniel came P4, which excited everyone, including Aurora and me, and we celebrated by wrapping him into a group hug as soon as possible.

The feature race had been going on for 25 minutes. Max led the pack from pole, followed closely by Charles. Lando and Oscar were holding their positions in 5th and 6th, respectively, until Oscar found an opening and lunged into 3rd at the exit of the turn, overtaking Carlos. He remained quite high in the positions for most of the race, even leading the race at points, but some snarky collisions with Carlos caused him to replace his front wing.

I watched keenly from the garage, my heart leaping into my throat as I anxiously monitored Lando's and Oscar's progress through the race.

Suddenly, with a turn of events, Kevin crashed into Logan, and a special Safety Car led Lando into the pits, which gave him a quick pit stop and let him continue to lead. From lap 33, everyone at McLaren felt pretty comfortable that Lando would hold the lead. He pushed the gap out further and further, 1 second, 2 second, 3 seconds...

10 laps to go... 5-second gap between Lando and Max. Lando was pushing his heart out, determined to hold onto that lead.

2 laps to go... 7-second gap. The race commentators were going crazy over their mics, trying not to jinx the ending, the crowd was on their feet, and the air was thick with anticipation.

The race had reached its final lap, and tension was high in the garage. Everyone was glued to the screen, watching the gap between Lando and Max grow steadily wider.

A race that was meant to be about Max Verstappen, but here at the checkered flag... Norris trumps Verstappen and WINS THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX, AND WINS A GRAND PRIX FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS CAREER.

LANDO HAS LANDED.

The garage erupted into chaos the moment the checkered flag waved, signifying Lando's incredible, well-deserved victory. Hugs, cheers, and screams filled the room as everyone celebrated the first win of his career. Over the radio, all of the McLaren crew are jumping up and down in joy, Zak Brown screaming out and crushing people in hugs.

"You've done it mate, you've done it," Will, his engineer says, before pouring out instructions about his engine position and things I didn't understand.

"WOOO! WOOOOO! I love you all, I love you all. Thank you so much. WE DID IT! We did it Will, we did it," Lando cheers out from his radio.

The emotions of the moment got to me, and there I was, a grown adult, sobbing at Lando achieving his first win in Formula One.

Aurora and I joined the McLaren team at Parc Ferme, just behind the fence so we could watch the celebration. Lando's car comes to a stop in the parc ferme, and the adrenaline from the win fills his veins, once he is weighed and stood atop his car holding his finger in the air, a swarm of drivers comes to congratulate him. As soon as he had the chance to, he storms over to the crowd of papaya, throwing himself into them, chairing Lando up and bouncing him up and down. He's surrounded by a sea of orange jumpsuits and wide grins, everyone in the team utterly overjoyed by their success.