2024 has seen the world of Formula One cast in its most soap operatic form for some years. The FIA president has been investigated and cleared of race fixing, Lewis Hamilton announced he was leaving for Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have been engulfed by a power struggle which may finally have come to an end in Miami.
The head of the Austrian contingent seeking to remove Christian Horner finally relented in Miami and backed the Red Bull team principle to bring “success” over the “long term.” Yet the new found peace in Milton Keynes did not bring success for the world champions as the dominant Max Verstappen was beaten fair and square for the first time in over two years.
Miami F1 pole curse remains
The number one Red Bull car had no mechanical issues and had qualified on pole position for the Miami Grand Prix – which is a poisoned chalice given the race has not been won from there since its inception three years ago. Meanwhile, McLaren have continued their development trajectory which began in Austria last season, bringing a heavily upgraded MCL38 to a Sprint weekend in Miami had itself raised the eyebrows of senior paddock figures.
With just one hour of practice to setup their F1 car for the Miami Sprint, McLaren displayed they have an excellent correlation of how its upgrades would work out on track and Lando Norris was quickest in both Friday afternoon SQ1 and SQ2 sessions.
Norris slumped to P9 in the final Sprint qualifying but it mattered little given he was wiped out of the race at the very first corner. Then McLaren were left feeling a little disappointed as their cars qualified just P5 and P6 for the Grand Prix.
But the inherent pace in the car was not to be hidden as Norris predictably went long on his first race stint and then benefitted from the safety car which meant he made his one stop of the race and retained the lead having saved 10 seconds switching tyres while the rest of the field were running at a restricted speed limit.
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McLaren receive “request” from Trump camp
Just hours before lights out in Miami, McLaren had received a “request” from the Donald Trump camp for him to pay them a visit. Why Trump picked McLaren is not immediately obvious other than its CEO Zak Brown is an American citizen. Yet inevitably the occasion became one which Trump was able to milk as the all conquering Max Verstappen was beaten fair and square by McLaren driver Lando Norris.
Lando was not just hanging on for the finish like Carlos Sainz had been in Singapore and Australia, in fact the British driver was pulling away from the world champion lap after lap and established a seven second gap to the Red Bull car at the chequered flag.
Norris later claimed he was unaware of Trump’s presence prior to the race because he’d begun his two hour preparation countdown to lights out, but admitted it was a “cool moment” when Trump came up to him to congratulate the 24-year-old Briton on his breakthrough win.
“I didn’t see him in the garage, to be honest. I was busy prepping for the race. But he saw me afterwards, and he came up to congratulate me,” Norris explained.
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Trump claims to be Norris “lucky charm”
Lando gave a remarkably level headed explanation of why he respected the former USA president, who for many prompts only a toxic response.
“So I guess an honour, because whenever you have someone like this, it has to be an honour for them to come up to you, to take time out of their life, to pay their respects for what you’ve done.”
Never one to miss the publicity opportunity, Donald Trump told Norris he was his “lucky charm” in their post race conversation, something Norris confirmed.
“He said he was my lucky charm because it’s my [first] win. So I don’t know if he’s going to come to more races now,” Norris added.
Miami F1 mystery strikes again
Norris offers “respect” to former president
“But yeah, there are a lot of special people or cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you’ve got to have a lot of respect for in many ways.
“And yeah, for anyone like that who acknowledges what you can go out and do and acknowledges the work ethic that goes into things, you’ve got to be thankful for that. And I was. So yeah, a cool moment. And that’s all.”
Donald Trump served as the 45th president of the United States between 2017-2021 and is this year’s Republican Party presidential candidate to take on Joe Biden in this November’s elections. The 77 year old billionaire businessman is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying records to cover a hush money payment to a porn movie star.
McLaren came in for some stick on social media for hosting Trump with one post describing their actions as “shameful.”
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McLaren face social media backlash
“It’s not like Trump bought tickets to go to the GP. He was INVITED by a MAJOR team. Absolutely shameful by the whole McLaren organization.”
Another fan voiced frustration over the apparent double standards, saying: “So Trump is allowed to gee up a crowd and start political advertisements at a Grand Prix. Yet, when Vettel or Hamilton said/say something, they’re told to shut it. Nice one, F1… What an embarrassing OG for McLaren.”
However, there was plenty of support for the former president including local fans in the grandstands. Videos from the pit lane show Trump leading fans in chants of “USA… USA”.
The criticism levelled at the McLaren team eventually prompted a response who issued a statement which read: “McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States.”
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Kevin Magnussen has built a reputation for being an elbows out type of Formula One driver. Despite often being in an inferior car, the Dane has demonstrated over the years his fine defensive driving capabilities and that every inch of asphalt is to be fought for.
Once again K-Mags prowess was on display in the Miami Sprint race. He was pitched against Lewis Hamilton in what should be a far superior Mercedes, yet the Haas driver was able to keep ahead of the seven times champion lap after lap… READ MORE
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Trump is not the president of the USA (he was and now just a has been) I have been a supporter of McLaren since the days of Bruce and Denny but now not so sure
Norris would be well advised to not make any positive comments whatsoever, about a former US President: who has been held civilly responsible for the Sexual Assault and Defamation of a woman; who is currently in Court facing 34 Criminal Indictments; who brags about how he gropes women; and who encouraged a violent mob to overthrow the Election of his successor on January 6th.
Good for Lando. Stay above the fray of the politics and show respect. Lando is 1st class.
The majority of middle class America supports Trump.
The big machine hates him because he won’t play nice with him and they have wagged the dog in a way that has never been seen before.
It’s sad that people who once called for an honest govt now support the govt fabricating evidence, Lying, interfering with elections and weaponizing the judicial system against a politician.
All of these “criminal cases”, the prosecuting attorneys and judges have been found to be so biased or have committed illegal and immoral actions to pursue the cases.
At the very least there have been selected prosecutions. Take the “secret documents”. Joe Biden had a magnitude of 1000 times more documents that were of a nature that could cost lives and affect economic stability. But he won’t be charged because he is “too old and feeble”.
The Trump paperwork could fit in a Manila folder, but the pictures sent to the media showed boxes and boxes and boxes. None were of pertinent matters, and the Trump lawyers had been working with the national archive to sort things out for almost a year before the raid on his offices.
In the words of the “walk away” movement… go watch the whole video before you decide on a sound bite.
Oh dear. Another MAGA thug using any available forum to spew his baseless, hate laden vitriol. Crawl back into your hole, Chuck.
Really? I’m the thug and you come in here spewing hate and insults?
Got it.
Maybe you should look in the mirror. It’s you who wants to limit political freedoms.
Go spew your pro fascism elsewhere Chris.
Facts… As their “cases” continue to fall apart. The libs are weaponizing the justice system, like something Putin would do. But yeah, Trumps the bad guy lol.
Were you bitching when Putin appeared at the inaugural Sochi Grand Prix Chris?
It is funny to see most on the internet trying to ignore the Trump visit. F1 has always been a place where politicians do want to be seen, and for the smaller countries they could be campaigning or controversial, but the general audience outside that country isn’t aware and doesn’t care. With US politics the whole world follows it, so there is a much bigger reaction.
Probably good that Trump wasn’t denied access, because of the anti-trust running regarding Andretti. He would have used that for ammunition against Biden, F1 keeping Americans and especially him out. Would have been a bigger mess for everybody involved and less memes for the community.
They bash him for being respectful but not for the f bomb. Only a small man would not be respectful to a former us president whomever he may be.
If McLaren wants to “respect the office of President of the United States” they would not associate with the only former President to be in court facing multiple felony criminal charges (with more to come in other jurisdictions). Some respect.
Find a President with out them? The US judicial system has become a political weaponized tool. And the judges and DA’s who think they are too smart and getting back at the politician on the opposite side of the aisle, usually ends up being disbarred because of illegal activities.
Unless it’s The Hague. A lot of democrat presidents with warrants from The Hague.
It cerat
It certainly was disappointing to see Lando calling him special, toeing the corporate line helping him promote himself. He is only young I suppose, but still, it makes him less of a hero, being used like that. Same with McLaren, now owned by Bahrain Mumtalakat and nothing to do with Bruce any more. But apparently Greg Maffei the top Liberty guy is a Trump supporter, ewwww