Cloudy. Dry. Air +27С, route +44…33С
Over the course of the weekend, the Miami circuit showed character. The organizers laid new asphalt, it turned out to be slippery and slippery, which did not allow the rubber to heat up effectively, but in hot weather it warmed up by itself – and not as the teams needed. Some have gained on this, others have fallen back. Notably, both McLaren racers fell out of contention in the first part of qualifying and Lewis Hamilton ended the fight in second.
At the same time, last year’s main problem with the route remained. Good grip was only on the track, a shift to the side where the asphalt was dirty could lead to a U-turn and takeoff, but the rain that had passed the night before the race not only washed away the layer of used rubber , but the dirt, so it became even easier to overtake.
Charles Leclerc crashed his car twice over the weekend – and the second accident led to the early completion of qualifying under red flags. The results were unexpected. Sergio Perez started from pole, and his teammate Max Verstappen, who led the weekend – just ninth – on the decisive attempt, was behind Leclerc and interrupted due to red flags.
Perez and Alonso started the race from the front row of the grid, Sainz and Magnussen from second, Gasly and Russell from third.
Pirelli brought on the podium the “middle” three compositions, well known to the teams this season – C2, C3 and C4 in the role of Hard, Medium and Soft, but in Miami the tires worked differently. Medium and Soft granulated quickly, and Hard provided longer distance, which the teams took into account when choosing a strategy.
Before the start, the stage was set up on the straight, the orchestra assembled, rapper LL Cool J called – and he introduced the riders to the crowd.
In the race, Okon, Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Zhou, Tsunoda and Stroll started on Hard, Norris and Piastri on Soft, the rest on Medium.
Perez kept the lead at the start. Magnussen lost three positions, Bottas stayed ahead of Ocon and Verstappen. Piastri gained five places back on the Soft and Norris lost three after contact with de Vries.
Top ten in round 2: Perez – Alonso – Sainz – Gasly – Russell – Leclerc – Magnussen – Bottas – Verstappen – Ocon.
On lap 3, Sargent changed tires and nose cone. Magnussen and Leclerc battled for position, with Verstappen moving up to sixth ahead of both.
On lap 5, Norris changed tires. Ocon overtook Bottas for ninth.
Piastri pitted on lap 6.
On lap 9 Verstappen overtook Russell, on lap 10 Gasly moved up to fourth. In this fight, Russell was ahead of Gasley and moved up to fifth.
Top ten in round 10: Perez – Alonso – Sainz – Verstappen – Russell – Gasly – Magnussen – Leclerc – Windows – Bottas.
On lap 14, Verstappen was ahead of Sainz to move up to third.
On lap 15, Magnussen changed tires. Verstappen passed Alonso and moved up to second.
On lap 16, Gasly, Bottas and de Vries swapped tyres. Hamilton passed Albon for ninth.
On lap 18 Russell and Leclerc pitted, on lap 19 Sainz blocked the brakes in the pit lane, on lap 21 Perez. Carlos received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
On lap 22, Perez overtook Ocon for fourth.
On lap 23, Albon changed tires. Hamilton edged out Hulkenberg for sixth.
Stroll’s actions were regarded as taking an unfair advantage against Russell – and Lance let George through.
On lap 25, Alonso changed tires. Gasly overtook Stroll for 10th.
On lap 26, Russell overtook Tsunoda and Alonso overtook Sainz for fourth.
On lap 28, Russell overtook Hulkenberg to move up to seventh.
On lap 29 Alonso was ahead of Ocon, on lap 30 Sainz.
On lap 32, Zhou changed tires. At the engineer’s request, Hamilton let his teammate Russell, who was running on fresher tyres, pass.
On lap 33 Ocon overtook Sainz for fourth, but on lap 35 Carlos regained the position. Hülkenberg made a pit stop.
On lap 36, Russell overtook Okon to move up to fifth.
On lap 37, Tsunoda changed tires.
On lap 38, Russell overtook Sainz for fourth. Hamilton pitted. Leclerc overtook Magnussen after several attempts.
On lap 40, Hamilton overtook Bottas for 11th. Windows have been changed tires.
Stroll pitted on lap 43.
On lap 46, Verstappen, who was leading the race, was the last of the drivers to pit and rejoined the track one and a half seconds behind Perez.
Top ten in round 47: Perez – Verstappen – Alonso – Russell – Sainz – Gasly – Leclerc – Magnussen – Hamilton – Ocon.
On lap 48, Verstappen was ahead of Pérez to retake the race lead.
Magnussen overtook Tsunoda for tenth.
On lap 52, Stroll overtook Bottas for 12th.
On lap 53 Leclerc overtook Gasly, on lap 54 Hamilton.
On lap 55, Hamilton overtook Leclerc for sixth.
==
Max Verstappen won the Miami Grand Prix with his third win of the season, his 38th in his career, making Sebastian Vettel the most wins for Red Bull Racing. His teammate Sergio Perez finished second, the team’s 26th double victory in history. Fernando Alonso climbed to the third step of the podium.
All twenty riders reached the finish.
After two weeks, the battle continues in Imola, where a series of three races in a row will start.
Racing results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | – | 1 | |
| 2. C. Perez | Red Bull | +5,384 | 1 | |
| 3. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | +26.305 | 1 | |
| 4.D Russell | Mercedes | +33,229 | 1 | |
| 5. K. Sainz | Ferrari | +42,511 | 1 | |
| 6. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +51,229 | 1 | |
| 7. Sch. Leclerc | Ferrari | +52,988 | 1 | |
| 8.P Gasly | Alps | +55,670 | 1 | |
| 9. E. Okon | Alps | +58,123 | 1 | |
| 10. K. Magnussen | hare | +62,945 | 1 | |
| 11. Y. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +64.309 | 1 | |
| 12. L. Walk | Aston Martin | +64,754 | 1 | |
| 13. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +71,637 | 1 | |
| 14. A. Albon | Willems | +72,861 | 1 | |
| 15. N. Hulkenberg | hare | +74,950 | 1 | |
| 16.G Zhou | Alfa Romeo | +78,440 | 1 | |
| 17. L. Norris | McLaren | +87,717 | 1 | |
| 18.N. deVries | AlphaTauri | +88,949 | 1 | |
| 19. O. Piastri | McLaren | +1 circle | 1 | |
| 20. L. Sargent | Willems | +1 circle | 1 |
best round: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 1:29.708 (lap 57)
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
