Mystic Carlos Sainz and his in-race prediction that came true for ‘deserving’ rival

Carlos Sainz congratulates Lando Norris on his Miami win

Undone by the timing of the Safety Car, Carlos Sainz could only watch as Lando Norris was gifted a free pit stop that allowed him to stay in the lead in Miami, Sainz predicting – and decrying – that “he’s going to win”.

Sainz and Norris had been battling for position at the Miami International Autodrome on a Sunday in which Max Verstappen led the opening stint, although wasn’t able to scamper off as he had in recent races.

Lady Luck smiled down on Lando Norris in Miami

The Grand Prix, though, was turned on its head when the Safety Car was deployed after Kevin Magnussen took out Logan Sargeant. Sainz had just pitted, but Norris had yet to stop.

Norris was able to make a free pit stop behind the Safety Car, pitting from first and coming back out P1 to line up ahead of Verstappen for the restart.

Sainz, with a choice word followed by a “this is so unlucky”, told his pitwall: “Lando is going to lead the race no? He’s going to win!”

The Ferrari driver may have been the only person to think that given Norris had Verstappen on his rear wing for the restart but after a failed attempt to retake the lead off the McLaren driver at Turn 1, the reigning World Champion lost ground.

Norris would go on to win the race by seven seconds ahead of Verstappen with Sainz fourth at the line before a five-second penalty for contact with Oscar Piastri dropped him to fifth.

“I think Lando has been deserving of a win for many, many years now,” Sainz said. “He’s been driving at an exceptional level and to finally get it.

“I’m obviously happy for him and frustrated because we were ahead of him before that pit stop before the Safety Car. If we would have extended one more lap, we would have pitted under the Safety Car and we would have won the race.

“But I think luck comes to the guys who deserve it and Lando is was one of those guys that deserved a little bit of luck this weekend.”

He added: “The problem with Formula One is that there are weekends where you do everything perfect.

“You drive to the maximum, you are probably are the strongest driver over the weekend because you’ve maximised everything but you finish P5 or P4 and you’re not in the headlines because you haven’t won a race.

“And there are the weekends that maybe you don’t do your best job in F1.

“Lando, he’s been driving like a race winner for many, many races in a row now. He just deserves the win. Luck or not luck, doesn’t matter. He’s a race winner and it’s about time.”

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Carlos Sainz blames Oscar Piastri for mid-race collision

Although the stewards slapped Sainz  with a five-second time penalty for his contact with Piastri, the Spaniard still feels it was the McLaren driver who was to blame.

Sainz attempted to overtake Piastri on lap 35 with the Aussie pushing him wide as they jostled over fourth place. Piastri suffered front wing damage while Sainz too felt his car wasn’t quite right after the collision.

He was immediately onto the radio demanding the position back: “He pushed me off! He needs to give me the position! Even if he gets a penalty!

“Tell McLaren to be intelligent! Give me the position and they don’t get a penalty!”

Speaking to the media after the race, he said: “He clearly pushed us off track and cost us time”

“The stewards were not being very aggressive with penalties today, so I had to be aggressive.”

The stewards, though, felt Sainz was to blame as Piastri had given him “sufficient room” with Sainz earning himself a time penalty along with one penalty point on his licence.