Max Verstappen won a Miami Grand Prix that, for the most part, had as much life as the trackside harbour.
Truth hurts.
Nonetheless, Verstappen overtook polesitter Charles Leclerc on lap nine of 57 and stormed out to a massive lead.
His 12-second advantage was nullified when Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly came together, triggering the race’s first and only safety car.
Leclerc’s race bounced back into life at the restart, but he couldn’t get close enough to attack the defending world champion.
Verstappen’s win came with the fastest lap, meaning he took a fair chunk of points out of Leclerc’s championship lead.
Carlos Sainz finished third and made it two Ferrari’s on the podium, ensuring the Scuderia maintained the lead in the constructors’ championship.
Sainz was embroiled in a late fight with Sergio Perez. The second Red Bull had a lunge on the Ferrari but couldn’t pull up in time, settling for fourth.
Despite having a better weekend pace-wise, Mercedes is still a fair way down on the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth, capitalising on a late mistake by Valtteri Bottas.
Alpine had a memorable weekend, with both drivers scoring points. Esteban Ocon came from the back of the grid to finish P8, while Fernando Alonso was P9.
Alex Albon was the last of the points scorers, finishing tenth.
F1 has a deal to have the Miami GP for the next ten years, so here’s hoping the next few get a bit more crazy and entertaining.
In fact, the best part of the race was the Police escort of the drivers to the podium.
That’s Florida for you.
F1 heads to Spain later this month for the sixth round of the world championship.
Race Results:
- Max Verstappen
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Sergio Perez
- George Russell
- Lewis Hamilton
- Valtteri Bottas
- Esteban Ocon
- Fernando Alonso
- Alex Albon
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Lance Stroll
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Nicholas Latifi
- Mick Schumacher
- Kevin Magnussen
- Sebastian Vettel
- Pierre Gasly
- Lando Norris
- Zhou Guanyu