Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Miami for the second consecutive year this Sunday and extended his lead in the World Cup over Mexican Sérgio Pérez (Red Bull), who finished second.
This was also Verstappen’s first victory from ninth on the grid, equaling the achievement of Finland’s Nikki Lauda (McLaren) in 1984, at the French GP.
The current two-time world champion spent 1:27.38.241 hours to complete the 57 laps of the Florida circuit, leaving Mexican Sérgio Pérez, his Red Bull teammate, in second place in 5.384 seconds, with Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin). third, at 26.305 seconds.
This was Verstappen’s third victory in five races (he also added an extra point for the fastest lap), while Alonso climbed to the lowest step of the podium for the fourth time, but already promises more for the following races.
“A podium at the beginning of the year would be incredible. Now, with four, we want more. In Monaco and Barcelona it might be enough for a little more,” said the Asturian at the end of a “lonely race”.
As for the Red Bulls, they seem to be in a pack of their own. For the fourth time in five races they monopolized the first two places.
Sérgio Pérez even started from first on the grid, but he was running on intermediate tyres, which in theory should give more grip despite having a shorter lifespan.
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, started from ninth place, with hard tyres, to postpone the pit stop as much as possible and take the opportunity to climb positions where his opponents stopped.
And the strategy worked because the hards didn’t waste much time on the mediums. It took 16 laps to overtake Pérez in second place and when his teammate had to retire with clear signs of left front tire degradation, he took command.
Despite the distance between the two narrowing slightly in the early laps after Pérez left the pits, with fresh hard tyres, the truth is that Verstappen stabilized and recovered for some time, holding onto the lead of more than 17 seconds.
When the Dutchman retired on lap 46 of 57, he mounted the medium tires and was 1.2 seconds behind Pérez, moving back to first place on lap 48.
“It was a good race. I stayed out of trouble at the start, I managed to make the hard tires last a long time and that made all the difference. I drove a decent race. Winning from ninth place is always satisfying.” emphasized Verstappen.
Pérez himself acknowledged that his teammate and opponent’s victory in the fight for the title was “earned”.
“You [pneus] the averages were worse than expected in the beginning. Max had an incredible pace with the runners,” the Mexican emphasized.
Britain’s George Russell (Mercedes) was fourth, 33.229 seconds behind the winner, with Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) fifth, 42.511 seconds, a distance that already included a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane when stopping to change tires.
Britain’s Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) was sixth, starting from 13th, with Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) in seventh, after a very discreet race.
All 20 riders crossed the finish line.
In the championship, Verstappen now has 119 points against Pérez’s 105.
The next round, the sixth, will take place on May 21 in Monza (Italy).
Source: DN
