His near-flawless performance in Florida was enough to comfortably see off the challenge of championship leader Max Verstappen, who had to settle for second at a track which had previously delivered nothing but wins for the Dutchman.
His triumph sparked wild celebrations in the McLaren paddock, with a delighted Norris admitting his success had been 'a long time coming'.
Restart could have ruined Norris' race
Despite being thoroughly impressed by the 24-year-old's overall performance, an F1 legend has picked out a moment of misjudgement which could have proved costly to his chances of securing the win.
Writing in his Sky Sports column, former F1 driver Martin Brundle said Norris made an error on the restart following a safety car deployment with 27 laps remaining, before going on to praise his recovery as he eased to victory.
“Once the safety car eventually picked up the new leader, Lando's only mistake on the day was on the restart," Brundle reflected.
“He needed to either launch off the apex of the effectively final turn 17, or run slowly to the finish line and then hit the throttle from there given the short run to the first braking zone.
“Instead, he did something in the middle and with Verstappen already trying to hustle him along, it was a close call as to who between those two would lead when exiting the first corner.
“Norris braked late, just kept the car on track, and then settled down into a supremely confident drive to win by 7.6 seconds at the end of lap 57.
“The team feel they had enough race pace to win without the safety car, but we'll never know of course."