Max Verstappen took victory in the 2024 Miami Grand Prix Sprint race, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sérgio Perez, despite complaining about issues with his car throughout.
Leclerc got the better start but with such a short run down to Turn One, Verstappen was able to keep first place after he secured pole in Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon.
Behind the front runners, they was plenty of drama going into Turn One. Lewis Hamilton went down the inside of Fernando Alonso, causing the Spaniard to hit Lance Stroll. The Canadian tapped Lando Norris, leaving both of them out the race. George Russell was also caught up in an incident at Turn One, dropping down to fourteenth. All of this saw the Safety Car come out and the race neutralised.
Daniel Ricciardo took advantage of Pérez going deep into Turn One to move himself up into third. The Mexican didn’t take long to get past the RB Visa Cash App Driver after the safety car, moving back up into the podium positions with a brilliant late lunge in sector two.
Most of the action from the sprint involved Kevin Magnussen and Hamilton. The Haas F1 Team driver picked up twenty-five seconds worth of penalties for multiple incidents, including going off the track, and hitting Hamilton. A move from Hamilton saw Magnussen leave it late to break, pushing both of them off track, allowing Yuki Tsunoda to move up into ninth.
Ricciardo was going well in fourth, continuing his strong run of form. The Australian was defending exceptionally well, keeping the Scuderia Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. and McLaren F1 Team driver Oscar Piastri behind him.
Verstappen wasn’t happy out front. Despite being three seconds ahead of Leclerc, the three-time world champion wasn’t pleased with the grip he had. Pérez wasn’t having these issues though – the Mexican was putting in some very encouraging lap times in the second half of the sprint.
Verstappen, Leclerc and Pérez finished on the podium ahead of Ricciardo, who secured his best finish in a race format since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. Sainz and Piastri finished right behind the Australian in fifth and sixth.
Nico Hülkenberg secured more points for Haas, and continued his good form after the announcement of his move to Sauber in 2025. Hamilton crossed the line in eighth, but a penalty after the race dropped him to sixteenth, meaning Tsunoda inherited the final points position.
Pierre Gasly was the lead BWT Alpine F1 Team driver in ninth, ahead of Logan Sargeant and Guanyu Zhou. Russell couldn’t make up any ground after the Turn One drama, and found himself stuck in a DRS train for the duration of the sprint.
Alex Albon finished in thirteenth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman picked up a 10 second penalty before the Sprint even started, after hitting Leclerc in the pitlane. Alonso finished seventeenth ahead of Magnussen.
