Why Norris got lucky twice when the Safety Car appeared in Miami

Lando Norris admitted he had a “bit of luck” on his side with the timing of the Safety Car period on his way to victory in the Miami Grand Prix.

However due to a quirk in how the Safety Car was deployed, the McLaren driver benefitted much more than he might ordinarily have done. Under normal Safety Car circumstances he might not have even kept the lead after his pit stop.

The Safety Car appeared on lap 29 after Kevin Magnussen dumped Logan Sargeant’s Williams into the barrier at turn three. As usual, drivers immediately had to obey the ‘Safety Car delta time’ which reduced the speed.

This is an opportunity strategists prize, as it allows them to make pit stops while losing less time relative to the cars around them. Drivers typically lose over 20 seconds making a pit stop under green flag running.

Safety Car, Miami International Autodrome, 2024 — Verstappen was badly held up by the Safety Car

Under Safety Car conditions that figure is reduced. However as Norris was only 11.3 seconds ahead of Verstappen when the Safety Car appeared, he was by no means guaranteed to keep his lead.

But when Norris made his pit stop he rejoined the track 23 seconds ahead of Verstappen. This happened because when the Safety Car joined the track it appeared in front of the Red Bull driver. Verstappen and those behind him therefore had to lap at an even slower speed.

“At one point we thought we were going to be ahead for a whole lap,” said Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph when he spoke to Sky over the race. Verstappen lost so much time behind the Safety Car that Norris was able to enter the pits with over half a minute in hand over his pursuer.

Without that, Norris would likely have fallen to second behind the Safety Car – still an improvement over the sixth place he held before drivers began making their pit stops.

The McLaren driver’s pace would still have made him a threat to Verstappen, though of course whether Norris might have been able to overtake the Red Bull on-track is another matter entirely. He hadn’t been able to get past Sergio Perez on same-age tyres earlier in the race, but by the second half Norris had fresher rubber and Verstappen had picked up some floor damage by clattering across the kerbs at the chicane when he wiped out a bollard.

Once free of Perez, Norris set a series of fastest lap times. He was able to resume that pace after the Virtual Safety Car period. The quirk of the Safety Car deployment potentially deprived us of an absorbing scrap for the lead.

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2024 Miami Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2024 Miami Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2024 Miami Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2024 Miami Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

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2024 Miami Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2024 Miami Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Rank	#	Driver	Team	Complete stop time (s)	Gap to best (s)	Stop no.	Lap no.
1	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	21.695		1	17
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	21.825	0.13	1	19
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	22.041	0.346	1	29
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	22.107	0.412	1	26
5	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	22.153	0.458	1	28
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	22.187	0.492	1	23
7	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	22.216	0.521	1	27
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	22.374	0.679	1	22
9	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	22.396	0.701	2	28
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	22.466	0.771	1	12
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	22.487	0.792	2	28
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB	22.54	0.845	1	28
13	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	22.567	0.872	2	53
14	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams	22.611	0.916	1	11
15	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	22.631	0.936	2	28
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	22.663	0.968	1	22
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	22.765	1.07	2	29
18	63	George Russell	Mercedes	22.8	1.105	1	24
19	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	22.805	1.11	1	27
20	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	22.828	1.133	1	10
21	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	23.017	1.322	1	28
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	23.038	1.343	1	11
23	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	23.055	1.36	1	12
24	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	23.265	1.57	1	22
25	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	23.73	2.035	1	11
26	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	29.727	8.032	2	28
27	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	30.409	8.714	2	40