F1 rivals revel in Lando Norris win for two reasons as Max Verstappen left sweating

Long gone are the days of the 'every man for himself' attitude within Formula 1.

There is a camaraderie between most of the drivers these days - and you'll struggle to find a more popular man on the grid than Lando Norris. So there were emotional scenes at the end of Sunday's Miami Grand Prix as the Briton celebrated winning in F1 for the first time.

Fist pumps and hugs with colleagues are common after any driver wins. But even these days it is rare to see drivers congratulate a rival with as much enthusiasm as many of them produced as they spoke with Norris.

To his credit, Max Verstappen put aside his own disappointment to be the first to heap praise on his friend. He said: "I'm very happy for Lando. It's been a long time coming. And it's not going to be his last one so yeah, he definitely deserves it today."

Norris also got big hugs from Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo, among others. And Charles Leclerc, who finished third, explained why there is so much love and mutual respect between this new generation of F1 stars.

The Ferrari driver said: "I'm just very happy for Lando, as we all want to beat one another. It's always nice to see the emotions. We've all come up together, and we came up through. I saw him in KF3, and from there we always want to make it to F1, and then the first race is special, and he must celebrate it."

But there is another key reason for everyone not of a Red Bull persuasion to be delighted with the manner of Norris' victory. The way he put McLaren 's upgrades to good use and sped away from Verstappen reminded everyone that the Dutchman is not invincible.

Verstappen struggled with the balance of his car over the course of the weekend and was not at one with his car in Miami, as he so often is. And, speaking to media after the race, boss Christian Horner claimed his star driver had picked up damage when he hit a bollard.

But the reality is McLaren introduced a raft of car upgrades which improved their pace so much they could take on the Red Bulls and win. And with that success comes a flicker of optimism that it might be possible for teams to take the fight to the defending champions after all.

Asked if he felt Norris' pace was indicative of McLaren being able to compete with Red Bull regularly, Verstappen simply replied: "I hope not!" Red Bull will want things to be business as usual at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix next time out - the other nine teams will pray for another McLaren challenge.