Cloudy. Dry. Air +28…29С, highway +43…45С
Sunday’s race capped off a busy weekend with Saturday’s sprint in Miami, with Max Verstappen leading all sessions. While his rivals tried to find a solution to the tyres, which were widely considered to be too hard, he set the best time in a single practice session, in qualifying for the sprint, in the sprint itself and in qualifying for the Grand Prix. .
Almost all teams brought new products to Miami due to the busy schedule. We didn’t actually get to work on them, but we managed to try them out before the two-week break for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
Verstappen and Leclerc started the race from the front row of the starting field, Sainz and Perez from second, Norris and Piastri from third. Ricciardo lost three positions at the start due to an incident during the last lap in China and started the race last.
Pirelli brought three “medium” compositions – C2, C3 and C4 in the Hard, Medium and Soft roles. In the race, Hamilton, Alonso, Magnussen and Ricciardo started on Hard, Bottas opted for Soft, the rest started the race on Medium.
Verstappen retained his lead at the start. Perez made a mistake under braking and went off track, but returned to the fight. Piastri gained three positions, Russell lost three.
Top ten in round 2: Verstappen – Leclerc – Piastri – Sainz – Perez – Norris – Hulkenberg – Hamilton – Tsunoda – Russell.
On lap 3, Bottas overtook Magnussen for 18th place.
On the fourth lap, Piastri overtook Leclerc and moved up to second place.
On lap 5, Russell passed Tsunoda for ninth place.
On the seventh lap, Hamilton was ahead of Hulkenberg, but made a mistake under braking, and Nico fought back and regained the position.
On lap 10, Hamilton overtook Hulkenberg.
On the 11th lap, Albon changed tires, on the 12th – Stroll, Sargent and Bottas, on the 13th – Hulkenberg and Gasly. Ocon overtook Alonso.
On the 18th lap Perez made a pit stop, on the 20th – Leclerc.
On lap 21, Leclerc passed Hamilton for fifth place.
On lap 22, Verstappen spun off the track, hit an orange pole and continued. The race director announced a virtual safety car mode for a few seconds. Ocon, Alonso and Magnussen managed to change their tires.
On lap 23, Verstappen made a pit stop and returned to the track in fourth. Alonso beat Gasly for 14th place. Perez – Tsunoda in the battle for eighth place, Ocon – Hulkenberg for twelfth place.
On lap 25 Russell changed the tires and when he returned to the track he overtook Ocon.
On the 27th lap, Hamilton made a pit stop, on the 28th – Piastri and Sainz.
On lap 28, Magnussen and Sargent went off track after a collision in the first corner. The safety car came out. Logan stopped and Kevin was given a 10-second penalty, which he immediately overturned. But he did not change the tires and according to the regulations, entering the pits behind the safety car can only be explained by changing the tires. After the finish, Kevin also received a 20-second time penalty.
Perez, Tsunoda, Zhou, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Norris and Bottas changed tires.
Top ten for safety car: Norris – Verstappen – Leclerc – Piastri – Sainz – Perez – Tsunoda – Hamilton – Russell – Ocon.
A restart was announced on the 33rd lap. Verstappen immediately attacked Norris, but Lando stayed in front and gradually drove away.
On lap 34, Hulkenberg passed Ricciardo for 15th place.
Sainz attacked Piastri, Oscar pushed Carlos off the track and stayed in front. The stewards left the incident without consequences.
On lap 35, Hamilton overtook Tsunoda for seventh place.
On lap 40, Sainz, Perez and Hamilton took the lead from Piastri, whose car had a damaged front wing after contact with Sainz. Sainz received a 5-second time penalty for this incident.
On lap 41, Piastri pulled into the pits and changed his wing and tires.
Top ten in lap 42: Norris – Verstappen – Leclerc – Sainz – Perez – Hamilton – Tsunoda – Russell – Ocon – Alonso.
On lap 45, Stroll overtook Ricciardo for 15th place.
On lap 48, Stroll passed Zhou and moved up to 14th. Alonso put pressure on Ocon for a few laps in the battle for 9th place and took the lead.
On lap 52, Zhou passed Albon for 14th place.
On lap 54, Albon made a braking error and went off track, but was able to return.
On lap 56, Piastri overtook Ricciardo for 15th place.
Lando Norris won the Miami Grand Prix and scored the first victory of his career. This is McLaren’s first win since Monza ’21.
Max Verstappen climbed to the second step of the podium, Charles Leclerc finished third.
After the finish, Carlos Sainz dropped to fifth place due to a penalty.
Esteban Ocon’s tenth place gave Alpine its first point of the season.
The battle will continue in two weeks with the stage in Imola.
Race results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. L.Norris | McLaren | 1:30:49,876 | 203,669 | 1 |
| 2. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +7,612 | 203,385 | 1 |
| 3. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | +9,920 | 203,299 | 1 |
| 4. C. Perez | Red Bull | +14,650 | 203,123 | 2 |
| 5. K.Sainz* | Ferrari | +16407 | 203,058 | 1 |
| 6. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +16.585 | 203,051 | 1 |
| 7. Yu.Tsunoda | RB | +26.185 | 202,695 | 1 |
| 8. D. Russell | Mercedes | +34.789 | 202,377 | 1 |
| 9. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | +37.107 | 202,292 | 1 |
| 10. E. Okon | Alps | +39.746 | 202,194 | 1 |
| 11. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | +40.789 | 202,156 | 2 |
| 12. P. Gasly | Alps | +44.958 | 202,003 | 1 |
| 13. O. Piastri | McLaren | +49.756 | 201,826 | 2 |
| 14. G.Zhou | Sauber | +49.979 | 201,818 | 1 |
| 15. D. Ricciardo | RB | +50.956 | 201,782 | 1 |
| 16. V. Bottas | Sauber | +52.356 | 201,731 | 2 |
| 17. L. Walk** | Aston Martin | +55.173 | 201,628 | 2 |
| 18. A. Elbon | Williams | +76.091 | 200,865 | 2 |
| 19. K. Magnussen*** | Hare | +84.683 | 200,553 | 3 |
* Carlos Sainz receives a 5-second penalty for a collision with Oscar Piastri
**Lance Stroll was assessed a 10 second penalty for running off the track and failing to regain his lead
*** Kevin Magnussen received a 10-second penalty for the incident with Logan Sargent and a 20-second penalty for entering the pits behind the safety car without changing tires.
Best round: Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:30.643 (43rd lap, 214.394 km/h)
Reasons for the meetings
| Pilot | Team | Kroogov | Cause |
| L. Sargent | Williams | 27 | accident |
Championship Position: Individual Competition
Championship position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | Engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1. Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 239 |
| = | 2. Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 187 |
| = | 3. McLaren F1 Team | Mercedes | 124 |
| = | 4. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 64 |
| = | 5. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team | Mercedes | 42 |
| = | 6. Visa Cash App RB F1 Team | Honda RBPT | 19 |
| = | 7. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 7 |
| = | 8. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 1 |
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.
