Lando Norris is finally F1 Grand Prix winner… but here’s how Donald Trump stole the show, strolling through the garage, in a selfie with an OnlyFans star and leaving McLaren staff dancing – hours before his back in a courtroom

Donald Trump, wearing his famous red cap, would be the last man to believe he couldn’t make the Formula 1 championship great again.

It was his first known visit to the premier world series and he was the guest of McLaren. He walked in, raised his clenched fists and wished them luck before the 57 laps began. And tried to rub off some of his self-confidence on his hosts.

The papaya tree visits the papaya team.

And like magic, Lando Norris won his first race on a sunny day in Miami. A bit of luck certainly came with the safety car. But for Norris, a 24-year-old from Glastonbury, Somerset, there was a sense of relief on his slim shoulders as he became the 21st British winner.

He carried with him the unwanted label of 14 podiums without a victory, more than anyone in history, and you could sense that it was weighing on him. He’s more introspective than his bubbly, made-for-Netflix public demeanor suggests.

British driver congratulated by former President Donald Trump following victory

OnlyFans model Veronika Rajek (center) poses with the McLaren crew before the race

Rajek made his way through the paddock (left) before managing to spot Trump (pictured right, left) ahead of the Miami Grand Prix

The McLaren driver kept his cool against top favorite Max Verstappen (left)

His big chance came on lap 28, almost exactly halfway through the race.

This was caused by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen pushing Williams’ Logan Sargeant into the wall. Sargeant, of Fort Lauderdale, was unlucky. Regardless, stopping the racing allowed Norris a free stop. This gave him the opportunity to maintain a previously deceptive “lead”, because he had not yet stopped and everyone else had.

Pretty. But who was in the car right behind him? No less than his best teammate on the grid, Max Verstappen, the world champion, the unbeatable machine (unless his engine breaks).

Privately, Norris considers Verstappen the best driver the sport has known. He believes he has all the assets to succeed at the top, so having the Dutchman behind the wheel of a hot Red Bull in his rearview mirror when the safety car stopped is nothing like a leisurely Sunday drive .

This must have put the wind in his sails. Now everything he had hoped for before and after his 2021 Melbourne debut – a spotted teenager nervously pulling at his finger joints as he spoke – was running through his mind.

Could he keep calm? The first evidence was “yes”. It was obviously shod with younger tires, but with the same hard compounds. He immediately set the fastest lap and continued to take the lead, while Verstappen struggled. He made his complaints known on the radio. Thirteen laps to go and he had taken a four second lead.

Norris is doused with champagne by Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (right)

With his victory in sunny Miami, the 24-year-old became the 21st British F1 winner

Maybe it was written in the stars. Verstappen, usually as dominant as one could imagine, had managed to hit a milestone early on.

The three-time world champion veered off the track at turn 15 a third of the way into the race and collected the red and white cone. But at this point, you’d think nothing – plastic, human or extraterrestrial – could stop the Dutchman as he dominates everything he faces on a regular basis.

This victory for Norris is a testament to his talents and builds on his impressive performance, perhaps his most complete in China a fortnight ago, when he was a finalist.

All this Norris joy seemed a distant fantasy at first. Verstappen led without any problems, keeping McLaren’s Oscar Piastri three seconds behind him in the searing Florida heat. But Verstappen wasn’t running away, in fact a sign of what was to come.

I don’t know if you would call this race classy. It’s too brash for that. It was a perfect place for the politician who could be elected the next leader of the free world while in a prison cell.

On Monday, Norris’ new big fan will be in a New York courtroom fighting charges that he falsified documents to hide money he gave to a former adult film actress and model Playboy. Yet on Sunday he was the main attraction, even among the stars who came (and those who stayed away, perhaps because of him).

Donald Trump arrived at the Miami Grand Prix and was surrounded by heavy security

Trump waved to his supporters in the crowd as he prepared to watch the race begin

Trump speaks with McLaren CEO Zak Brown as he tours the McLaren garage ahead of the race

In a surreal scene, around two hours before the lights went out, his security men requested that a channel be created leading him from the central paddock to the McLaren garage. Someone shouted, “I hope you win, Donald!” He turned around and said, “I have to do this.”

He went in the garage for about 10 minutes. He spoke to the sport’s top brass, including Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed bin Sulayem. He was in the McLaren team at the request of the team’s majority shareholders, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund headed by the kingdom’s crown prince, Salman.

Once the conversation was over, Trump then followed the same routine through the crowd. An OnlyFans model, whose skimpy outfit left little to the imagination, took a selfie with the presumptive Republican nominee. He dropped his jaw and walked away, followed by his security guards.

He hadn’t entirely gotten what he wanted this week. A billionaire friend, Steven Witkoff, had tried to organize a fundraiser at the track. The idea was to charge attendees $250,000 to attend the reception in a rooftop suite at the Paddock Club.

The organizers put a stop to that.

But Trump watched from the same spot as Norris took victory, 7.6 seconds behind Verstappen, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third. Norris raised both hands in the air in celebration after crossing the finish line.

McLaren’s colleagues, who felt they had to emphasize their apolitical nature in a statement after Trump’s visit, were overwhelmed. They danced in the pit lane.

With his ride, Norris took McLaren’s first victory in almost three years

Verstappen, usually as dominant as one could imagine, had managed to hit a boundary early on

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren world champion at the time, greeted Norris from the cockpit.

Norris shouted an indescribable noise. “We did it, Will,” he told his engineer Will Joseph. Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive who had entertained Trump in the garage, hugged everyone he could find.

“I guess that’s how it goes,” said a clearly moved Norris, dedicating the triumph to his grandmother. “I knew when I came in today that it was a day of opportunity.”

Yes, he made himself big.