Pole: Sergio Perez
Winner: Max Verstappen
Fastest Lap: Max Verstappen 1:29.708
1-10
The top 3 all get away well heading into the first corner. Norris and De Vries make contact and are now running 19th and 20th after De Vries locked up into Norris. In Lap 2, Verstappen has made up a place to p8 whilst further ahead Gasly has made good moves as has Russell both running p4 and p5. In lap 3, Sargeant comes into the pits as he has to change his front wing and goes onto the hard tyres we see the HAAS of Magnussen overtakes Leclerc for p6 as Verstappen follows and takes 2 cars on the straight as Leclerc looks under pressure. In lap 7, the top 3 remain the same with Alonso following Perez well with just over a second between them and Sainz following suit behind Alonso. In lap 8, Verstappen uses DRS to overtake Russell as the Mercedes driver reports vibrations on the brakes. In lap 9, Verstappen makes an identical overtake to his on Russell as he takes Gasly for p4, and Russell overtakes into turn 1 to take p5 as they cross the line to enter lap 10.
10-20
Lap 11, there is a big DRS train building behind Bottas with Hulkenberg, Albon, Hamilton, Tsunoda and Zhou struggling to battle whilst having to save tyres. In lap 13, Magnussen and Leclerc are providing a good battle for the viewers as they swap places heading into the chicane as Magnussen is defending well against the Ferrari. Lap 15 Magnussen pits for Hard tyres with a good 2.7 seconds pit stop from the HAAS team. In lap 15, Verstappen has caught Alonso and with his pace, he is looking to catch Perez with a 3-second gap to make up. Lap 16 Gasly, De Vries and Bottas all pit for new hard tyres. Hamilton has made a good move on the outside of Albon who is running a good race for Williams in p10, up to p9 and chasing Hulkenberg in front. In lap 19, Sainz has pitted and has come out ahead of Albon who is now running in p8. Sainz takes Hamilton for p6 on the inside of the first corner.
20-30
In lap 21, Perez pits for Hard tyres as the Red Bull team completes a 2.2 pit stop standard procedure for the champions. Sainz has been noted for speeding in the pit lane. Albon, Stroll and Russell are in a close battle for p9 as Stroll almost hits Albon going into the first corner. In lap 23, Albon pits for Hard tyres as the whole grid apart from Alonso is on the hard compound, Sainz has got a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. In lap 24, Russell makes a solid move into turn 9 on Stroll to take p9 as Russell had concerns about his front wing. Alonso pits on lap 25 with very few drivers remaining to pit for new tyres. In lap 28, Russell gets himself into p7 overtaking Hulkenberg as both HAAS cars have been putting up a good fight across the race.
30-40
Lap 32, Zhou has entered the pits as Hamilton lets his teammate pass to see if he can fight the Alpine of Ocon in front. Lap 34, Hulkenberg pits as we see Leclerc managing his tyres to hopefully make his way up into the points. In lap 36, Russell has overtaken Ocon for p5 as Hamilton is not close behind looking for as many points as possible for the constructors. Lap 38, Hamilton pits as Leclerc gets passed Magnussen on the main straight.
40-57
In lap 43, Hulkenberg holds the fastest lap as the grid remains the same as Ocon and Stroll have pitted for medium tyres. Lap 45 Perez sets the fastest lap as we are yet to see Verstappen pit. Lap 46 Verstappen pits for medium tyres with a marginally slow pit stop of 3.1 as Perez takes the lead as the crowd cheers for one of their favourites. This is now looking like a simple job for Verstappen as Perez has had a quiet race on the radio compared to Verstappen as before the end of lap 47 he is already within DRS range of Perez. In lap 48, Verstappen takes the lead using DRS on the main straight which seemed inevitable considering his pace throughout the whole race from starting p9. In lap 51, Tsunoda makes a smooth move on Bottas as they have a close battle for p11. Lap 54, Hamilton makes a brilliant move down the inside of Gasly in p8, now catching the Ferraris. In lap 55, Hamilton is providing some beautiful driving through the field as he takes Leclerc and starts his race to Sainz. Max Verstappen starts the final lap as Perez follows with Alonso in 3rd and takes his 2nd Grand Prix win in Miami.
Summary:
This year, the Miami GP returns to the calendar as the drivers raced 57 laps around the Hard Rock Miami Dolphins stadium. Sergio Perez was in pole position for Red Bull after a late red flag in qualifying yesterday by Charles Leclerc prevented many drivers from getting their final laps in. Max Verstappen finished 1st for the second year running in Miami with a comfortable race lead over his teammate of 5 seconds despite being hindered by Leclerc's incident in qualifying. Sergio Perez brought it home to make it a Red Bull 1-2 finishing 5 seconds behind his teammate. To round off the podium, Fernando Alonso collected another third place for Aston Martin. George Russell finished in P4 for Mercedes managing to pull a 9-second gap to the Ferrari of Carols Sainz who finished in P5 for the Scuderia. Lewis Hamilton finished p6 closely followed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in P7, a good result for both Ferrari and Mercedes. Alpine also had a strong team result with Gasly finishing P8 and Ocon P9 closing the gap to McLaren in the championship. Kevin Magnussen rounded off the top 10 pinching the final point for HAAS which is another good result for the driver.
Yuki Tsunoda finished P11 narrowly missing out on the top 10 after finishing 2 seconds behind Magnussen and lining up P17 on the gird. Lance Stroll struggled to find the pace in his Aston Martin finishing P12 followed by the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas in P13. The Williams of Alex Albon finished P14 followed by the HAAS of Nico Hulkenberg. Zhou finished p16 for Alfa Romeo. McLaren struggled again this weekend with Norris finishing P17 and Piastri P19 both drivers hoping they can catch up to the rest and develop their car throughout the season. Rookies, De Vries and Sargeant finished P18 and P20, a disappointing weekend for the Williams driver in his first home race in Miami after picking up damage to his front wing on the first lap.
Next Race: Imola
Comments