Peerless Verstappen recovers from P9 start to take dominant victory in Miami, relegates Red Bull teammate Perez to P2; Alonso earns fourth podium out of five races with solid P3

Red Bull’s peerless ace Max Verstappen recovered from an ill-timed Red Flag during Saturday Qualifying that relegated him to a P9 start for the Miami Grand Prix all the way back to a surprisingly easy victory on Sunday. On a track that had been difficult to pass on in its debut last year, 2023’s race was a very different affair, featuring a passel of passes and not only by Verstappen. But, once again, it was the Red Bull in the Dutchman’s hands that proved an irresistible force, as Verstappen carved his way through the midfield during the first third of the GP like a hot knife through better. If this were IMSA, the RB19 would surely be given a balance of performance weight penalty, such was the seeming ease of its multiple overtakes on reasonably proficient cars, including, eventually, his teammate. Verstappen and his strategists also made the wise decision to start on the Hard Pirelli tires from his disadvantaged position on the grid, while the others in the top 10 started on the quicker but shorter-lived Mediums. In any event, after biding his time and staying out of trouble on the opening lap, Verstappen essentially proved the distinction between Hard and Medium tires to be meaningless for him, first making easy work of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas on Lap 2 for P8 and then nabbing two places by passing the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc while they were preoccupied dueling each other on Lap 4 to vault up to P6 in the relative blink of an eye. By this point it was clear that not only was Verstappen going to be able to get up and challenge his race leading teammate Perez by the last stanza of the race but it was actually Perez who was likely to be the hunted rather than the hunter, even on one of the Mexican’s favored street courses.

Late on the brakes, and eight in his wake 🚀@Max33Verstappen powered through the field en route to victory!#MiamiGP #F1 @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/Bqeeqfo5CS

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2023

While Perez had successfully gotten out of DRS range of the very fleet P2 Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, with Alonso likewise being able to keep the P3 Ferrari of Carlos Sainz at bay in the early going, he was unable to build a gap over his hard charging Red Bull teammate further behind. On Lap 9, Verstappen made easy work of Mercedes’ George Russell for P5 and on the next lap he rounded up the out-of-position Alpine of Pierre Gasly for P4 at the same point in Turn 17, the last real corner at the Miami International Autodrome and a section that turned into a prime overtaking area on Sunday. Just a few laps later, Verstappen was on the back of Sainz’s gearbox and he then flew by the Spaniard for P3 midway through Lap 14, utilizing Turn 11 with aplomb this time and then duplicating the feat on Alonso on the subsequent lap. So, by Lap 15 of the 57-lap contest, Verstappen had already erased the memories of his qualifying disappointment and made up an astounding eight positions. With that, he set about closing down his race leading teammate just up the road.

Before any early intra-team dramas could bloom on track, the Red Bull pit wall called in Perez on Lap 20 to make the switch off his aging Medium tires and onto the Hards, which he would be forced to run for the remainder the contest due to the preferred (and likely only feasible) one-stop strategy. That handed the lead to Verstappen and the Dutchman now concentrated on pumping in solid laps on his Hards while running in clean air to bank time for his own inevitable pit stop. That he did in seemingly effortless fashion, running all the way to Lap 46 before diving to the pits for fresh rubber and a new set of Pirelli Mediums with which to close out the race. While the normally top notch Red Bull pit crew was slightly slow by about a second and Verstappen came out behind Perez once again, it was quickly all too clear that Perez on aging, 25-lap old Hards was no match for Verstappen on fresh Mediums. The Flying Dutchman stamped his dominance on yet another race and demoralized yet another teammate, cruising by the game but helpless Perez just a few revolutions of the circuit later on Lap 48, making the decisive move while the two ran side by side down into Turn 1. From there, Verstappen just set off into the distance, setting the race’s fastest lap for the extra championship point en route to the victory five seconds ahead of Perez. It was a remarkable exhibition in Miami and a real statement of dominance by the two-time and reigning World Champion after a disappointing weekend in Baku, setting things up nicely for a rematch between the only two genuine contenders this season two weeks hence at Imola.

Top 10 finishers of the Miami GP:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time on May 21st, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, aka Imola, just a little southeast of Bologna. Bring your appetite for more wheel to wheel action between the Red Bull championship rivals and teammates, with Perez aiming to reassert his title hopes and Verstappen looking to hand out another beatdown. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!