Hot Miami welcomed the F1 circus for the inaugural GP weekend. The 5,4-kilometre Miami International Autodrome consists of 19 corners, three straights and three DRS zones. Inside the 180-degree Turn 7 there's an eye-catching painted area. Sea has been brought to the track by painting the area turquoise with real yachts on top of that. Similarly, one area has been painted as beach. The circuit is situated around the Hard Rock Stadium, which has hosted Super Bowl for six times and which is known as the home arena of Miami Dolphins. The asphalt differs from that used in Europe, and the asphalt has already needed to be repaired after the free practices. Through Turns 11-16 the circuit is extremely narrow and the walls are close, so there's no room for mistakes.
The Red Bull ace Verstappen had suffered from overheating issues during both free practices on Friday, but problems had been fixed by the qualifying. Both Red Bull drivers showed excellent pace, and Ferrari duo proved highly competitive as expected. In terms of the Mercedes drivers, the tables had turned. Russell had even topped the time sheets in FP2, but in the qualifying the Briton's pace was completely gone. Teammate Hamilton, instead, managed to make it as high as P5 in Q2. Russell, who is so far the only driver to finish in top five in the first four races, was knocked out of Q3.
Verstappen took provisional pole by 0.064s to his closest rival Leclerc. Sainz in the sister Ferrari signed in for the battle for pole being only 0.08s off Verstappen's benchmark. Perez in the sister Red Bull was fourth and Bottas in his Alfa Romeo was fifth. Hamilton, who had struggled massively in first four races, was now sixth. Claiming pole came down to putting together a lap without any mistakes. Leclerc managed to improve on his last run, so did teammate Sainz. Charles took the upper hand in the end, being 0.19s faster than Carlos. Verstappen ended up making a mistake on his last flyer, which cost the Dutchman the front row grid slot. However, Sainz and Verstappen were separated by five thousandths of a second only! Perez made it fourth, and the Mexican will start to the race alongside his teammate. Bottas was impressive fifth, with Hamilton sixth, Gasly 7th and Norris 8th. AlphaTauri's Tsunoda and Aston Martin's Stroll rounded out the top ten. This was the third pole of the season for Charles already and the first front row lockout for the Red Team since Mexico 2019.
It was scorching hot, as the lights went out at Miami International Autodrome. Ferrari star Leclerc held on to his lead, but teammate Sainz lost his second position to storming Verstappen in Turn 2. Perez in the sister Red Bull maintained his fourth place, with Alfa Romeo's Bottas following in P5. The Finn's ex teammate Hamilton, on the other hand, lost two positions at the start, dropping down to P8. The most staggering start, however, was taken by Alpine's Alonso, who jumped four positions from 11th to 7th.
The pace of the top two was very evenly matched, and the duo was separated by a bit over or under a second. On the course of the race tyre degradation proved more of an issue for the Red Team. Race leader Charles was struggling early on especially with his front right tyre. On lap 9 hungry Verstappen saw his chance, and opening the DRS enabled the flying Dutchman to take the lead from the Monegasque. In just six laps Max had increased his gap to Charles into three seconds. It seemed, that nobody was able to challenge Max for the race win for real.
In terms of the top drivers, Hamilton opened the pit stop roulette on lap 22. The 7-time world champion was in P6, as he pitted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis, which was an expected move. When rejoining the track, only teammate Russell managed to make ahead of him. Russell had started to the race on the long-lasting hard compound and therefore hadn't pitted yet. Ferrari called Charles in on lap 24. Charles' gap to race leader Verstappen was 5,3 seconds at that point. Verstappen made his mandatory pit stop two laps later, and Perez and Sainz followed their teammates' example on the sequential lap. Tyre strategy was unanimous; all drivers opted for the white-marked hard rubber. Unfortunately the pit stop cost Carlos some extra seconds, as the Ferrari mechanics had difficulties with attaching the Spaniard's front right tyre.
By lap 30 dominant Verstappen had built up a 7.5-second gap to Leclerc. Teammate Sainz, on the other hand, was 19 seconds behind already. Perez was fourth and Russell, who still hadn't pitted yet, was fifth. Bottas in P6 and Hamilton in P7 were separated by a bit over three seconds.
Russell's risky strategy to extend his first stint paid off, as AlphaTauri's Gasly and McLaren's Norris collided on lap 40. The collision made Norris' McLaren spin multiple times, and crash into the wall wasn't to be avoided. The Briton's wrecked McLaren stopped on the track, and there was debris all over the driving line. The consequence was obvious: first virtual safety car, which rapidly turned into deployment of actual safety car. Russell pitted right away, losing only two positions when rejoining the track on fresh medium Pirellis. At the same time, Verstappen's well earned 7.5-second lead had slipped through the Dutchman's fingers.
The restart took place on lap 46, with 11 laps to go. Verstappen took a flawless restart, making maintaining his lead look easy. Perez, who had also pitted for a fresh set of medium rubber during the safety car, was challenging Sainz for the last podium place. However, Carlos played it sneaky and made Perez end up on the dirty side of the track, keeping the Mexican behind him. Behind the top four, Bottas made a costly mistake on lap 49, touching the wall slightly. The Mercedes hyenas attacked the Finn right away, both making their way past the Alfa Romeo driver.
On the closing laps Leclerc had reached the striking distance to Verstappen, but Max gave no chances for any overtaking moves. Further down in the midfield Haas' Schumacher was in P9 and well on his way to his first career points. With only two laps to go, Schumacher and his mentor Vettel collided in the heat of the battle for the last points. Schumacher dramatically dropped out of points, and Sebastian had to retire the race, so the collision proved costly for both of them.
Verstappen won the inaugural Miami GP, which was his second consecutive victory. In addition to the glorious victory, he earned the extra point for the fastest lap time. Ferrari teammates Charles and Carlos completed the podium, with Perez 4th, Russell 5th, Hamilton 6th and Bottas 7th. Ocon and Alonso brought valuable points for Alpine by finishing 8th and 9th respectively. The very last point was earned by Williams' Albon.
Ferrari ace Leclerc is still leading the drivers' championship battle with 104 points to Max's 85. Perez is now third with 66 points, Russell fourth and Sainz fifth. Ferrari's lead in the constructors' standings has decreased into 6 points only. Now it's time for the drivers to recover from the heat of Miami and set eyes on the upcoming Spanish GP. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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