Max Verstappen marched to an impressive victory in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix after starting ninth on the grid, extending his lead at the top of the FIA Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship.
Verstappen’s mistake during the Qualifying round gave pole-sitter Sergio Perez an opportunity to win and claim the top spot in the world championship, but Verstappen showed great racecraft to work his way back up and won by a margin of five seconds, extending his lead to 14 points. In just 15 laps, Verstappen quickly advanced to the second position and managed to outdo Perez’s pace by adopting a different racing strategy. He eventually surpassed Perez with nine laps to go.
Fernando Alonso took is fourth podium of the season for Aston Martin Armaco Cognizant F1 Team with an impressive performance from the Spaniard. He had competition from Carlos Sainz Jr. but a 5-second penalty for the Scuderia Ferrari driver saw him fail to challenge Alonso in the closing laps.
Damage Limitation for Mercedes
Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team started the weekend strong scoring a 1-2 finish in the first practice session of the weekend, but they lacked pace from that point onwards and failed to get both cars into Q3, for the second race in a row. It was George Russell who had to start out of place in Baku, and this time it was the turn of Lewis Hamilton this weekend.
The seven time world champion worked his way up the order well after starting thirteenth, much like Verstappen, Hamilton opted to start on the hard tyre and a late charge on the medium tyre saw him charge all the way up to sixth, including an impressive overtake on Charles Leclerc.
In the other Mercedes car, Russell had a very good race. The Brit started sixth on the grid, and ran a steady and composed first thirty-five laps. The second part of the race saw him let through by his teammate, with both drivers on differing strategies but also a great move on Sainz to move him up into fourth position.
Pitch Perfect for Red Bull
Verstappen displayed a remarkable performance during the Miami Grand Prix, surpassing Perez to claim the win, which was his third victory of the season, after starting in the ninth position on the grid.
Verstappen rapidly advanced to the second spot, starting with different tyres from Perez and the Red Bull drivers who led most of the race. This set up an exciting showdown during the final laps of the race, once Verstappen switched to medium tyres. The Red Bull drivers were in close proximity on the track, and despite Perez’s efforts to defend his lead, Verstappen skillfully made a move around the outside of Turn 1 and into Turn 2 to capture the lead from his teammate.
Ultimately, Verstappen emerged as the winner of the race in Miami, delivering an outstanding performance on the track, but it was pitch perfect from Oracle Red Bull Racing, who saw themselves score their fourth 1-2 of the season around the streets of Miami.
What Happened Elsewhere?
Sainz and Leclerc finished fifth and seventh respectively, which will be a massive disappointment for Ferrari, after showing some improvements last weekend in Azerbaijan. Ferrari will be hoping for a major uplift in performance as they go to their home grand prix next.
It was a double points finish for BWT Alpine F1 Team, with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finishing eighth and ninth respectively. While it was a great result for the French team, it could have been so much more with Gasly showing excellent pace in the first stint, running as high as fourth.
Kevin Magnussen took the final points position for Haas F1 Team at their home grand prix after running a good race, while Yuki Tsunoda missed out finishing eleventh, remarkably for the third time this season. Despite out-qualifying his teammate, Nyck de Vries was unable to deliver points for Scuderia AlphaTauri and finished in nineteenth.
Lance Stroll failed to make up for a disappointing qualifying, and finished in twelfth, followed by Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon. Nico Hulkenberg was outpaced by his teammate, therefore finishing outside the points on a disappointing weekend for the German driver.
One of the biggest disapointments of the race was the performance of McLaren F1 Team. After a poor qualifying, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to even affect proceedings and both had miserable races, resulting in finishing seventeenth and nineteenth respectively.
It was also a disappointing race for Logan Sergeant, who was born in Florida in 2000, finishing last in his home race. The Williams driver is one of two drivers yet to score points, and while Williams are perceived as the worst performing team on the grid, the American will be hoping his luck can change soon.
The race result means Red Bull extend their lead in the Constructors Championship and are now over 100 points ahead of the nearest competitor, which as it stands is Aston Martin. As for the Drivers’ Championship Verstappen extends his lead to fourteen points, and looks well on course to win his third consecutive Championship with Red Bull.
Formula 1 now heads to Italy for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, which will be an exciting prospect with Ferrari looking to bounce back at their home race and Mercedes bringing their first upgrades of the season, which could be the turning point in their season. While Red Bull are well ahead in the Championship, there are interesting battles developing all across the paddock
