(Motorsports news) In the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, Norris prevailed over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following a mid-race safety car that gave him the lead. Despite this, the British driver was able to pull away from Verstappen’s team to secure a comfortable first-ever victory.

Norris’s historic victory was long deserved after 109 races without finishing on the top step of the podium, but the 24-year-old claims he never believed his day would arrive, even if he felt others did.

“I’ve had my moments where we’ve been close and I’ve never been able to convert it into the win,” Norris stated.

“Despite the fact that many others didn’t think I could pull it off and win a race, I wasn’t concerned.

This year, I’ve been more certain than ever that I and the squad have what it takes, and I’ve been patient with that.

“I’ve simply been going about my business, competing, qualifying, and doing my best work. And I was aware that my moment was near.”

In the Russian Grand Prix in 2021, Norris and the team nearly lost the race due to a poorly thought-out strategy during the rain delay.

There were many who questioned Norris’s ability to handle the strain of racing for victories, and he thought that “a lot of people talk crap about” that near-miss.

Even after my error in Turn 1 on Lewis [Hamilton] last weekend in China, people still like to utilize that.

“Anyone is free to express themselves. I don’t need people to like me. They are not required to help me.

But in certain cases, you want to go out and disprove individuals who doubt me.

They believe they are knowledgeable, thus it’s a good idea to disprove them when you find evidence to the contrary.

It’s good to just go out there and perform my work and show folks what I can do; it’s not meant as a jab 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!”

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