Lando Norris can finally add being a Formula 1 Grand Prix winner to his already impressive resume. After 109 race starts and 15 podiums to his name, 8 of which have been second-place finishes, the British driver finally claimed his maiden race win in F1 at the Miami Grand Prix. Surprisingly, former US president Donald Trump took credit for being the lucky charm for Norris, as reported by the Brit after the race.

The race, which was being led by Max Verstappen past the halfway point, took a sudden turn during a safety car period after a collision between local hero, Logan Sargeant and Kevin Magnussen. Having stayed out when the front runners made their first round of pit stops, Lando Norris inherited the race lead by pitting under the Safety Car and cruised his way to victory with a 7-second lead over the reigning world champion, marking the 2nd win for McLaren in 12 years.

But Lando’s win wasn’t the only point of highlight for the McLaren F1 team on Sunday. Earlier in the day, American Republican nominee Donald Trump was seen visiting the McLaren garage during his visit to the paddock area in Hard Rock Stadium. The visit was not without its security measures, with significant measures in place to ensure the safety of the former president.

Trump was accompanied by Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing, as well as other notable figures, including Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president, Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of Formula 1, and Greg Maffei, the CEO of Liberty Media. During his time at the McLaren garage, Trump was photographed alongside Zak Brown, standing proudly at the front.

In the post-race media interviews, Lando Norris spoke about how he felt meeting with Donald Trump and what he said to him on his race win as shared by ‘Ferrari News’ on X (formerly Twitter). “That was an honor,” said Norris. “For someone like this to take time out of their life to pay respect for what you’ve done. He said, he was my lucky charm. Don’t know if he comes to more races now. It was a cool moment.”

However, not everything went smoothly during Donald Trump’s visit to the Miami Grand Prix, as fans took to social media to criticize the McLaren team.

McLaren defended itself after facing backlash due to Donald Trump’s Pit visit

Former US President Donald Trump is currently facing legal troubles, as he is on trial in New York on 34 counts of fraud related to payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. And F1 fans were not happy with McLaren inviting him to their garage.

However, in a statement defending their position, McLaren emphasized their neutral stance, stating that they accepted the visit alongside other key figures in Formula 1, viewing it as an opportunity to showcase their engineering prowess on a global stage. “McLaren is a non-political organization however we recognize and respect the office of President of the United States so when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEOs of Liberty Media and Formula 1.”

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“We were honored that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world-class engineering that we bring to motorsport.”

What are your thoughts on Donald Trump’s visit to the Miami Grand Prix? Let us know in the comments down below.