Red Bull’s Verstappen gets ahead early, survives late Safety Car to win in Miami; Ferrari consoled by Leclerc & Sainz P2, P3 finish

After muffing his challenge for pole during Saturday qualifying, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen resolved to fight his way to the front on Sunday at the inaugural Grand Prix of Miami. Starting from P3 on the grid behind the two Ferraris of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and his stablemate Carlos Sainz, Verstappen got away swiftly when the lights went out to start the race on this hot South Florida day, making quick work of Sainz going into Turn 1 on the opening lap and grabbing P2. Next, the Dutchman set his sights on Leclerc, his key rival this year, and the Red Bull showed that it had the legs on the Ferrari, at least on this temporary street circuit with not only tight and twisty corners and esses but also some long, high speed straights. By Lap 8, Verstappen’s RB18 was right on the gearbox of the Monegasque’s F1-75 and on Lap 9 Verstappen was able to pass the Prancing Horse easily with a probably too powerful DRS assist steaming by down the main straight to take the lead.

The first round of pit stops failed to change the equation and Verstappen swanned off into the distance, seemingly on his way to an easy victory. But on Lap 41 of this 57-lap contest AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, running off the pace after earlier contact, collided with the fast-running McLaren of Lando Norris, sending Norris’s car into a spin and crash that littered the track with debris and knocked the young Englishman out of the race. This brought out first a Virtual Safety Car and then the inevitable actual Safety Car since the area of the crash required extensive clean up. It was all Leclerc and Ferrari could have hoped for, as it erased Verstappen’s large lead and bunched the field up again behind the Safety Car. When the race restarted on Lap 47 Leclerc was able to stick with Verstappen, both of whom were on older Hard tires dating back to their first pit stops, and then hound the Dutch wunderkind for the next few laps. The Ferrari man was even within DRS range for a few laps but still could not execute the overtake, such was the all around strength of the Red Bull. With the last life of his tires burned off in that final frantic chase, Leclerc faded away over the last few laps and Verstappen came home the victor nearly four-seconds ahead of P2 Leclerc. To make matters even sweeter, Max also got the bonus point for the race’s fastest lap for the maximum 26 available on the day.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But Ferrari still had to be pleased with not only Leclerc’s solid P2 but also Carlos Sainz ability to hold off the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and secure a P3 finish. With the Spaniard having crashed out of the last two races on the opening laps, Sainz got a much needed podium to restore his confidence and aid the team from Maranello’s ultimate goal, the Constructors’ Championship. And coming a fortnight after both their Prancing Horses failed to finish in Emilia-Romagna, team Ferrari had to be heartened by this strong double points result. But Perez’s late race duel with Sainz was also hampered by a sensor issue that robbed his Red Bull of valuable horsepower and so the Mexican was somewhat fighting with one hand behind his back, even after pitting for fresh Medium Pirelli tires during the Safety Car period in an effort to overhaul Sainz. While Perez couldn’t quite pull it off with his compromised power output and had to settle for P4, Ferrari had to realize that the Red Bull is now clearly the superior car five races into 2022. Their engineers back at the factory in northern Italy had better figure out a way to extract more power from their own engine design in a hurry to match the Red Bull/Honda powertrain’s superiority in a straight line.

Behind the elite top four, Mercedes George Russell made good use of his own stop for fresh rubber under the initial VSC period and passed his teammate Lewis Hamilton on Lap 54 to come home a solid P5. While Hamilton complained that he should also have been allowed to dive in and match that move, the seven-time World Champ was once again just slightly unlucky in his track position when the VSC was deployed and the team couldn’t risk that move. Hamilton did manage to out duel his old Silver Arrows partner for P6 when Valtteri Bottas ran his Alfa Romero wide on his knackered tires on Lap 49. Bottas had to settle for P7, still a very solid run for a reinvigorated Alfa Romeo team, thanks in no small part to the Finn’s steady presence and leadership. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon led home a trio of big movers. After the Frenchman couldn’t make qualifying due to a crash in practice he had to start from the back of the field, though fortunately not dead last due to pre-race fuel problems for Aston Martin that saw both of those cars start from the pits. Through good strategy, steady attrition and a little luck, Ocon willed himself all the way up to P8 by the time the checkers flew, a sterling result. Likewise, Williams’ Alexander Albon started from way back in P18 and drove superbly to take P9. And Lance Stroll, mired  in one of those pit-starting Aston Martins, was elevated to P10 after Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was give a 5-second penalty for leaving the track to gain an advantage.

Top 10 finishers of the Miami GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks’ time — back to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix at the very familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. With Verstappen surging can Ferrari and Leclerc make the necessary adjustments to hold off the Dutch champion’s momentum? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!