Tag: Miami GP

Closer F1 field is boosting interest and ticket sales in U.S.

The closer field that has led to a Formula 1 championship battle this season and promises a strong 2025 has been described as “a dream come true” by the president of the Miami Grand Prix. Max Verstappen’s dominance of the past two seasons has come …

The closer field that has led to a Formula 1 championship battle this season and promises a strong 2025 has been described as “a dream come true” by the president of the Miami Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen’s dominance of the past two seasons has come under threat ever since Lando Norris won in Miami this year, with the McLaren driver closing the gap to the championship leader to 52 points heading into the final six rounds. With four races in a row on a more friendly timezone for the United States – including two races in America – Miami president Tyler Epp says the increased competition on track is helping the race establish itself further.

“It’s so great,” Epp told RACER. “It’s been a dream come true for us as we’re trying to build our business together, and I would say that with respect to what Red Bull and Max did in the past couple of years as well. There’s tremendous respect for that, and there’s historical significance.

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“So it’s not that we’re rooting against Max and Red Bull, but we love competition. We love the question of when people show up and come and sit in their seat, they’re not sure who’s going to win. And the value in that, especially from a younger, burgeoning fan base, is something that we’re hyper focused on.

“The power of the product is why we spend so much time developing that relationship with Formula 1 and the teams and making sure that we’re the place that they want to be and when they want to start their uber-competitive run, Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] and Lando know they can always come back to Miami as their first one!

“And they’ve been a fantastic partner through this. I mean, we’ve leaned into kind of the McLaren story, because it was their first win here. We’ve got a McLaren grandstand that’s operating this year that sold really, really well. And it’s just exciting for us to try to put some authenticity into the fandom that’s growing in the United States.”

Epp says the current form guide has led to a strong start to ticket sales for Miami after going live with its offering for 2025 last month, as it works alongside other events in the region.

Lando Norris after winning this year’s Miami Grand Prix. Andy Hone / Motorsport Images.

“Everything’s tracking up. We feel really, really good about where we are. The buying cycle, from year one to now, going into year four, has been kind of all over the map,” he said. “Early it was like a huge spike, right when we released tickets, and the last couple years, it’s been a little bit different. It’s ebbed and flowed through the holiday season, the start of pre-season testing, and then on to the F1 season, starting in spring.

“So we’re tracking that carefully and trying to make sure that we have a good feel for what the fan wants, because at the end of the end of the day, that’s what we’re targeting. But I would tell you that we’re very pleased with where we are. I think we’re getting a better understanding of what the value proposition is, and hopefully the pricing will reflect that as we continue to go on.

“But we speak consistently to our friends, not only in Austin and Vegas, but also in Montreal and Mexico, as we think about the North American market. But with with the series coming to North America here in the next couple of weeks, you’ve got Austin, Mexico, Vegas and Brazil, all in that same grouping. We carefully monitor what everybody’s sales look like, and try to stay ahead of it as best we can, but it’s been off to a great start.”

 

Miami Grand Prix adds four new circuit configurations for year-round usage

The Miami International Autodrome has added four new circuit configurations that will allow the track to be used year-round without the need for road closures. The home of the Miami Grand Prix has been on the Formula 1 calendar for the past three …

The Miami International Autodrome has added four new circuit configurations that will allow the track to be used year-round without the need for road closures.

The home of the Miami Grand Prix has been on the Formula 1 calendar for the past three years, but has only hosted the F1 race and associated support events during one weekend per year due to the impact on the parking lots at Hard Rock Stadium and the requirement to close roads that the grand prix circuit crosses.

Inner loops that have been made possible via hairpins and a new section before the original Turn 11 and after Turn 16 that links up with the rest of the track. The four new layouts range from a 19-turn 2.8-mile configuration to a 1.43-mile short loop that features 13 corners and will allow the track to host competitive race events at other times of the year as well as private track events.

Miami Grand Prix managing partner Tom Garfinkel says the development means the circuit can both host corporate events as well as focus on community-based days.

“This is an exciting time to be a motorsports enthusiast here in South Florida,” Garfinkel said. “Our investment into the facility and construction of the inner loop creates five track configurations worthy of the world’s most elite drivers and allows us to engage with the growing motorsports community of South Florida while also respecting the impact to local residents and businesses.

“There’s a thriving car culture here in South Florida and this investment enables us to better serve this growing group of automotive enthusiasts, as well as utilizing our campus for more community programming, including education and career opportunities for local youth and students.”

The largest new configuration is known as the Extended Marina Loop, and will host the Ferrari Racing Days from May 14-18 in 2025, two weeks after the next edition of the Miami Grand Prix. The F1 race will continue to use the full grand prix layout.

Miami targets year-round motorsports experiences, but not more racing

The organizers of the Miami Grand Prix want to provide more motorsport experiences throughout the year at the Miami International Autodrome, but hosting other racing series is not part of that plan. Miami joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2022 and …

The organizers of the Miami Grand Prix want to provide more motorsport experiences throughout the year at the Miami International Autodrome, but hosting other racing series is not part of that plan.

Miami joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2022 and has grown as an event each year so far, with a record 275,000 people attending over the three-day weekend earlier this month. The race’s president Tyler Epp says further improving in the grand prix is a major target moving forward, alongside developing a more permanent motorsport culture at the Hard Rock Stadium venue.

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“I think there are two big things for us,” Epp told RACER. “Number one, I think it is continuing to invest in Formula 1. They are our biggest partner in our motorsports business, so continue to invest in the product and what they do and making sure that we are doing that in a way that is sticky and relatable for our fans.

“Right now we operate as one huge F1 event at our facility every year. We have to make sure that we are delivering that at the highest level, and so the fans that do enjoy coming and have continued to come, we’ve got to develop a relationship with them. So there’s there’s a lot of work that we need to continue to do to cultivate that fan base.

“I think the second part of that though, is creating other motorsports experiences on our campus. And Steve [Ross, Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium owner] and Tom [Garfinkel, Dolphins CEO and Miami GP managing partner] have been very intentional about trying to work in more motorsports-type events, into the things that we do in our facility as a whole throughout the year.

“We’re going to be working on that a bunch this summer and on into the fall, to give not only to people who come for Formula 1 weekend, but also those people who are interested in car culture in South Florida a place to come and experience motorsports at the highest level.”

Despite F1 being the only racing event to take place at Miami International Autodrome so far, Epp says there are no plans to try and attract other series to the circuit, that has limited availability due to the impact of the NFL season and Miami Open tennis tournament in spring.

“It would be tough,” he said. “And that’s not really part of the strategy, honestly. The strategy is much more to figure out ways to work with the private driver, or the private car collector, the people that just love cars – the car clubs, if you will – and really offer our facility as a place for them to come and have the the best experience they possibly can.

“We haven’t had any conversations with any of the other racing series. It’s not really on the program. We like having our professional racing series focused on one weekend with F1 as our lead.”

Stella admits win takes a weight off for both Norris and McLaren

Winning in Formula 1 for the first time at the Miami Grand Prix is a weight off for not only Lando Norris but also McLaren as a whole, according to team principal Andrea Stella. Norris won his first F1 race last Sunday, rapidly closing in on the …

Winning in Formula 1 for the first time at the Miami Grand Prix is a weight off for not only Lando Norris but also McLaren as a whole, according to team principal Andrea Stella.

Norris won his first F1 race last Sunday, rapidly closing in on the leaders when released into clear air in the first part of the race and then pulling away after retaining the lead during a safety car period. Having finished second on eight occasions prior to winning at the 110th attempt, Norris felt he answered his critics with his victory but Stella (pictured at left, above, with Norris) says it was down to McLaren to provide the 24-year-old with both the car and the execution as a team.

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“Realistically, it was a bit of a weight on his shoulders,” Stella said of Norris’s long wait for a win. “But it was some weight on our shoulders as well, because we knew as soon as we had made winning material available to Lando he would have delivered. So we felt the responsibility and I said that many times.

“We feel like it’s up to us, it’s not up to Lando. But credit to Lando that he kept developing — how he developed over the winter, especially looking for instance at improving in qualifying and delivering laps that sometimes don’t have to be 100% when you have a fast car. Just be there. And I think he’s doing that.

“Also, I have to say his race management is now very mature. As soon as he saw that there wasn’t much to do after the first lap, he started to save tires, save tires, because he knew his race would come at some stage. And then that pace he was able to pull off once the cars ahead of him pitted, then that was quite incredible.

“Fast in qualifying, even sometimes pacing himself, and very mature in the race at getting the best out of himself in the race.”

Norris had been on the verge of a first win back in 2021 when he attempted to make it to the flag on slick tires after a late downpour in Russia but come up short. Stella says that missed opportunity was down to McLaren’s processes rather than Norris, and shows how tough it is to win a race as a team.

“We were totally convinced that the gap to the victory for Lando wasn’t in Lando, it was in the team. We needed to provide him with winning material. And as soon as we did it, he achieved it,” Stella said. “So that’s for me testament to how ready he was. Also, when we look at what he delivered in podiums with a car that sometimes wasn’t really a podium finisher on merit, for me Lando is on a very strong journey.

“If I think back to the race in Russia, I think if anything that was a bit of turning point for Lando himself and for the team, in terms of how we have to operate when the pressure rises and in terms of how we have to collaborate to make good decisions by bringing the unique information you have while you are on track and the unique information you have on the pit wall.

“But if I go back to that race, I think responsibility is on the pit wall as we didn’t enforce the call to pit enough. The driver on track, he doesn’t see if it is raining somewhere else. We could see it. It was our limitation in not enforcing Lando to pit, so even in that case he was delivering the job but we were not ready, in a way, to achieve the victory.

“Achieving victories is never easy and if we look at what Red Bull have achieved… I never under-evaluate what they have achieved. I always really take my hat off because there’s so many ways in which you can wrong. For them to be so successful with such a sequence of victories is just amazing. We are just starting with this kind of journey and hopefully we will have more of these days in the future.”

Miami targets 100,000 daily capacity to meet demand

Miami Grand Prix organizers want to be able to host 100,000 fans per day at the race in future, but will take their time to hit that number despite high demand. This year was the third edition of the race and saw the highest attendance so far, with …

Miami Grand Prix organizers want to be able to host 100,000 fans per day at the race in future, but will take their time to hit that number despite high demand.

This year was the third edition of the race and saw the highest attendance so far, with 275,000 fans heading to the Miami International Autodrome over the race weekend. While Sunday was a sell-out, daily capacity still sits around 92,000 and the race’s managing partner Tom Garfinkel says that’s a figure he wants to build on without negatively impacting the fan experience.

“We’re still kind of trying to limit capacity a bit to make sure we can deliver the experience,” Garfinkel said. “I think if we put 125,000 people a day in here then traffic would get worse and concessions and bathrooms and everything would get worse.

“But we did design [for growth]. The pedestrian bridges, for example, in year one they were all temporary, and in year two we actually bought all these bridges. They stay up all year, even during football in the parking lots, and they’re twice as wide.

“So we purchased the bridges with the idea that we can grow capacity in the future and still have the bandwidth to get people across easily and safely and without bottlenecks. I think they might be the widest bridges anywhere — they are all literally twice as wide as standard. So we anticipate to grow the attendance in future.

“But right now we’re still trying to just, year three, let’s make sure we delivering this great experience, hopefully, and let’s grow it slowly. Eventually we’d definitely like to be over 100,000 a day. It’s just going to be a matter of monitoring how well we’re delivering that experience. If we can continue to do that as we add 5,000 here and 5,000 there, if we feel like we’re pushing the envelope we’ll cap it out at that.”

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Garfinkel believes there is still plenty of room for growth for all of the American races on the Formula 1 calendar — as recent figures have shown — because each one provides different ways of appealing to fans.

“Miami, Austin and Las Vegas are all three very different cities with three very different cultures,” he said. “We’re trying to be uniquely Miami here, and Vegas does what Vegas does, and Austin does what Austin does. I think those differences are all positive because it means fans can choose which one they enjoy the most, or choose to go to all three and have different experiences at all three.

“We’re just trying to do what we do here and be Miami — try to do things a little differently and do some things that are fun, across a spectrum from people that are spending $150 a day for a campus pass to people that might spend $15,000 a day for a really high-end, luxury experience. So as long as we keep doing that, we keep focusing on ourselves and try to make it better.”

Norris takes satisfaction in answering his critics with Miami win

Lando Norris says his first Formula 1 victory at the Miami Grand Prix was made all the sweeter by the criticism he’s faced in the past for failing to win a race. The McLaren driver beat Max Verstappen by over seven seconds in Miami to secure his …

Lando Norris says his first Formula 1 victory at the Miami Grand Prix was made all the sweeter by the criticism he’s faced in the past for failing to win a race.

The McLaren driver beat Max Verstappen by over seven seconds in Miami to secure his first win at his 110th start, with the success coming after eight second-place finishes. Norris came closest to victory in Russia in 2021 when a late rainstorm caught his team out and he couldn’t complete the final few laps on slicks while leading, but he believes there has only been one chance to win a grand prix he feels he didn’t deliver on and that he knew he’d get to silence his critics.

“There was one opportunity, and that was Qatar last year,” Norris said. “To win the main race was maybe a bit more of an ask. I don’t know what Max’s [Verstappen] gap to Oscar [Piastri] and I was — like five seconds, six seconds, I think — so you can’t go against that and put that ever away. But as a Sprint race, the Sprint race was the loss.

“I don’t know if there was a main race that I’ve missed out on, to be honest. And that’s obviously the more valuable one — the one that means a lot more to you. So I kind of want to say no. I want to say I don’t think there was a Sunday where I’ve thrown stuff away.

“I’ve thrown away maybe a podium or a P2, but I think every opportunity to try and take a win, I’ve been there. There’s a couple of times when I’ve been blocked from those opportunities. One was Singapore last year, and Carlos [Sainz] took it. And another one was Australia this year, where the two Ferraris were ahead. Apart from that, there wasn’t a Sunday.

“And as much as people want to say there was this and that and Russia [2021] and Qatar, there wasn’t a Sunday I’ve missed out on a win because of something I’ve done wrong. There were pole positions. There was a Sprint race win. But nothing more than that. And I think that’s why I never lost faith.

“I never didn’t believe in what I could go out and do. So, happy to put that to bed and prove a lot of these people wrong. I go on Instagram and I like all the comments of people abusing me — I freaking love it. It makes me smile more than anything, especially ‘Lando No-wins.’ That’s become the thing.

“For me to finally prove those people wrong and prove to people that didn’t think I could go out and do it, it’s put an even bigger smile on my face. So I thank all of them.”

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Insisting that Sochi never entered his mind in the closing laps of Sunday’s race, Norris says he was actually trying to think of a radio message to deliver after crossing the line, in the same way that Valtteri Bottas did when winning for Mercedes in Australia back in 2019 and again in Russia a year later.

“You’re always going to have people that don’t support you and people that do. When you’re out there on the podium and I do my in-lap, there’s a lot of people out there cheering you on and waving and congratulating. So I thank all of them.

“Of course, the people I keep closest to me — my team, my engineers, my manager, my trainer, my family — those are the people whose words you always take as something more meaningful.

“Anyone can say what they want. I’m always for that. People don’t need to like me. They don’t need to support me. I’m not always asking for those types of things. But yeah, when people doubt me in certain situations, you want to go out and prove them wrong.

“They think they know what they’re talking about and when you prove that they don’t, then that’s a nice thing to go out and do. So, yeah not like a dig at anyone. I wanted to say like the Valtteri line, ‘To whom it may concern’ but I was like, ‘That’s copyrighted,’ so I didn’t want to repeat it; but it’s just nice to just go out there and do my job and show people what I’m capable of.”

Verstappen brushes off Miami floor damage, but Horner admits it cost him time

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Max Verstappen picked up damage that hurt his chances of winning the Miami Grand Prix, despite his driver stating he felt no difference. Verstappen was leading the first part of the race but cut the …

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Max Verstappen picked up damage that hurt his chances of winning the Miami Grand Prix, despite his driver stating he felt no difference.

Verstappen was leading the first part of the race but cut the chicane on lap 21 and bounced over the curbs, taking out a bollard in the process. At that stage his lead over Oscar Piastri was just 3.7 seconds and Piastri closed it on the next lap, while Norris was within 10 seconds of the lead after being stuck in traffic. But Horner believes the damage played a major role in being unable to fend off the McLaren as Norris went on to take victory after a well-timed safety car period.

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“I don’t think we had a great balance all weekend,” Horner said. “Obviously, he hit the bollard around Lap 20 and that has actually done quite a lot of damage to the underside of the car so we will have to look at exactly what the effect of that was. But he had enough pace at that point, he was pulling clear of Oscar behind and Lando before he picked up that damage.

“Obviously, thereafter we then pitted and the safety car came out at the best time for Lando, gave him essentially a free stop and not great for us because we were on tires six laps older. With the damage, second place was actually still a decent result.

“We have to congratulate Lando on his first victory. It is always a big moment for any grand prix driver to win their first race, so congrats to him and McLaren. But we still managed to score the most points in the drivers’ with the sprint race yesterday and the most in the constructors’ as well. A very strong weekend for the team.”

Expanding on the damage, Horner says part of the floor was missing following Verstappen’s off-track moment.

“It is a reasonable amount of the area around the left rear floor. There is a reasonable amount that’s missing and you can see it awfully flexing as well, so it certainly wouldn’t be helping.”

However, Verstappen, who was extremely close to being hit by teammate Sergio Perez at the start in an incident that also could have led to floor damage, says he did not notice any difference after his off-track excursion.

“It didn’t feel different, so I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it was already damaged. I don’t know. I mean I hit that thing and then my pace was the same so I didn’t really know if there was damage.

“I didn’t like it [the bollard], so I decided to take it out and test the durability of the front wing as well. So that’s a crash test done. Yeah, there was no damage. The cone was out of the way for everyone, so it was basically a free-for-all after that.”

Verstappen refused to be drawn into whether he would have won the race had the safety car not been needed, allowing Norris to make his pit stop and retain the lead.

“I don’t know what the gap was, to be honest, before the safety car … I mean, it’s always if, if, if, right?” he said. “If my mum had balls, she would be my dad. So, yeah, I mean, it’s how it goes in racing. Sometimes it works out for you, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Magnussen nearing race ban after latest Miami GP penalty

Kevin Magnussen is on the verge of a race ban after picking up another penalty in the Miami Grand Prix. Saturday’s sprint race saw Magnussen pick up three penalty points for repeat offenses when fighting with Lewis Hamilton, having already earned a …

Kevin Magnussen is on the verge of a race ban after picking up another penalty in the Miami Grand Prix.

Saturday’s sprint race saw Magnussen pick up three penalty points for repeat offenses when fighting with Lewis Hamilton, having already earned a time penalty that was going to drop him out of the top eight. Then on Sunday, Magnussen was deemed to be wholly to blame for causing a collision with Logan Sargeant, sending the Williams out of the race, and earning another two penalty points.

The penalties over the Miami weekend lead to five points, and with Magnussen also earning five across incidents in Saudi Arabia and China — for colliding with Yuki Tsunoda on each occasion — he is now on 10 penalty points since early March. Two further points between now and 9 March 2025 — the date one year from the first incident — would trigger an automatic one-race ban for the Haas driver.

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Explaining the latest decision, the stewards pointed to the fact that Magnussen was not far enough alongside Sargeant to be entitled to racing room.

“Per the Driving Standards Guidelines, in order for car No. 20 to be given room for an overtaking attempt on the outside, car No. 20 needed to have the front axle at least alongside the front axle of the other car at the apex of Turn 2.

“It was clear that car No. 20 did not have its front axle in that position such that it was entitled to room in that corner. Further, if this is looked at purely as an overtaking on the inside of Turn 3, car No. 20 would also not have had the right to the corner, by the standards for an inside overtake.

“Even if this was viewed as a sequence of corners or a chicane, the decision remains the same. Per the guidelines, priority will be given to the first corner and if you do not have the right to be given room, then you do not get the benefit for the next corner.”

Should Magnussen miss a race at any point this season, Haas can call on either Ollie Bearman or Pietro Fittipaldi as its reserve drivers.

Sainz penalized post-race for Piastri clash in Miami

Carlos Sainz has been demoted to fifth place in the Miami Grand Prix for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri. The Ferrari driver was involved in a robust fight with Piastri for a number of laps as they battled over fourth place, with the stewards …

Carlos Sainz has been demoted to fifth place in the Miami Grand Prix for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri.

The Ferrari driver was involved in a robust fight with Piastri for a number of laps as they battled over fourth place, with the stewards opting to take no further action when the McLaren pushed Sainz wide defending at Turn 11. Sainz finally managed to get through into the Turn 17 hairpin but appeared to lose control of the rear and hit Piastri’s front left corner, with the stewards deeming the contact worthy of a penalty.

“It was clear to us that car No. 55 was to blame for the collision,” the stewards’ decision read. “In the overtake attempt, car No. 55 braked late, missed the apex and in the process lost the rear, with the resulting collision. Although car No. 81 was trying to turn in to counter the overtaking attempt, car No. 81 gave sufficient room to car No. 55.

“In the circumstances, we find car No. 55 to be predominantly to blame for the collision.

“In this case, we took into account, as mitigating factors, the fact that but for the slight loss of control of the rear by car No. 55, the collision would likely not have happened and it would have been hard but good racing. The standard penalty for a collision is 10s with two penalty points. In light of the mitigating circumstances, we therefore impose a 5s time penalty with one penalty point.”

The penalty drops Sainz behind Sergio Perez in the final classification, with Lewis Hamilton remaining sixth but just 0.1s behind Sainz after the time addition.

Norris ‘might have more than just a scratch on my nose tomorrow’

Lando Norris intends to celebrate his Miami Grand Prix victory in special fashion after securing the first win of his Formula 1 career. The McLaren driver arrived in Miami with a cut on his nose as a result of a chipped glass he was drinking from in …

Lando Norris intends to celebrate his Miami Grand Prix victory in special fashion after securing the first win of his Formula 1 career.

The McLaren driver arrived in Miami with a cut on his nose as a result of a chipped glass he was drinking from in Amsterdam last weekend, making fun of his appearance on Thursday. Come Sunday, however, he was on the top step of the podium after cruising to victory ahead of Max Verstappen, and says he’s changed his travel plans so he can celebrate in style in Miami.

“I was meant to fly, but Zak [Brown] just told me we fly tomorrow,” Norris said. “I’m not going to sleep, I’m going all the way! I might have more than just a scratch on my nose tomorrow, I don’t care. I’ll enjoy my time. This only happens once when you take your first win. It’s nice to do it here in Miami. I was kind of hoping it was at Silverstone… [but] tonight’s going to be a good night.”

Standing on the top step of the podium in F1 for the first time on his 110th attempt, Norris says he was allowing his mind to wander about how long it had taken to secure his first win.

“It felt incredible. It’s a good crowd as well, the whole team are there. I don’t know what I’m meant to say, honestly. A lot of smiling, a lot of cheers… A lot of hard work goes into a day like today. Just the happiness, me smiling, which is not always the case.

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“I dream of these days sometimes. You never know when they’re going to come towards you, but today was that day. As much as my mind was going crazy, I was thinking a lot of things, I was also quiet. It’s just a bit lonely out there at times and it’s nice to reflect on everything you’ve done to get to this point.”

The 24-year-old admits the win is a weight off his shoulders after eight second-place finishes amid the 15 podiums he’d scored before Miami.

“As much as I want to say no, it’s a yes!” he said. “To get that first victory is always incredible. I’ve of course had my moments where I’ve been close, and I’ve never been able to convert it into the win. But I wasn’t worried. As much as a lot of people doubted that I was going to be able to put it together and win a race, I wasn’t worried.

“I’ve been more confident than ever this year that I’ve got what it takes and the team has got what it takes, and I was patient with it. I’ve just been doing my job and executing my races and executing [qualifying], and doing what I can do best, and I knew my time was coming.

“I said it this morning — it’s not often that I’m optimistic about things, but actually all weekend there’s been something. Already practice, [qualifying], we’ve been close. We were very good on Friday and there was kind of that spark. We maybe lost it a little bit into Saturday, but today it definitely came back, and turned into a little fire. It was an incredible race.”