A Formula 1 wanted to innovate in the 2021 season with the introduction of sprint races, which consist of much shorter races compared to the main GP, and which take place on Saturdays. This ended up generating a lot of controversy because they said that the short races took away the shine of the category, especially at the beginning when only the top three gained points and defined the starting grid for Sunday.
However, the format underwent changes until it reached its current form, in which there are two qualifying sessions – one for the sprint and one for the GP. Putting everything together, the 2024 Miami GP experienced a very curious event that would shock any fan who has followed the category for a long time.
Lando Norris achieved his first F1 victory, but it wasn’t the Brit who scored the most points over the entire weekend, but Max Verstappen. The Brit scored the 25 goals that the winner receives for triumphing in the race, but as he retired in the sprint race after the incident with Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, he was unable to surpass the 26 points that Verstappen achieved.
The Red Bull driver won Saturday’s sprint, where he secured 8 points, which added to the 18 from second place in the race meant he left Miami with 26 points, making him the biggest beneficiary of the weekend. This was something that hadn’t happened since 1957, at the British GP, when Luigi Musso scored more goals than the winner of the main GP
Or rather, winners, because in that round held at Aintree Tony Brooks and Stirling Moss won, as they shared a car. By dividing the tasks behind the wheel, the points won were also divided, four and five respectively, while the Italian from Ferrari, after finishing in second place, took all six that were awarded to him at the time.
On 20 July, the cars were scheduled to complete 90 laps of the track near Merseyside, and Stirling Moss managed to return to the lead after Jean Behra took first place from him at the start. However, his Vanwall’s engine went to the limit and he had to return to the pits to retire, although the team thought about stopping his teammate and making him take over the controls to come back from ninth place.
So, Tony Brooks stopped in the pitlane and made way for the second driver to get into that car to complete the remaining 61 laps, something unthinkable today, but which allows stories as curious as this to be told.
