Max Verstappen claimed victory in the Miami GP from ninth position on the grid, thanks largely to his spectacular sting on the hard tyre – where he matched Perez’s pace despite a 20-lap difference in life.
On lap 46, the two-time World Campion put on the medium tire and then easily overtook his teammate a few laps later for his third victory of the season, consolidating his lead in the drivers’ Championship.
Fernando Alonso is back on the podium after an unlucky weekend in Baku, according to the Asturian, and confirming an AMR23 second only to the RB19 in race pace. Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc, Gasly, Ocon and Magnussen were the other drivers to bring home points in Miami.
Miami GP: Mercedes better than Ferrari despite updates – Ferrari’s usual issues continue
Mercedes can be satisfied with the performance of the W14 in the Miami GP, especially in the second part of the race.
George Russell finished the race comfortably in fourth position ahead of Carlos Sainz, while Lewis Hamilton managed to overtake the other Ferrari a few laps from the end with extreme ease. At Ferrari, the usual difficulties emerged, even with the updates introduced this weekend in Florida.
Alpine scored a reasonable amount of points, with the French team putting a difficult weekend in Azerbaijan behind them. Starting from fifth position, Gasly only lost out to Hamilton and Leclerc in the final laps of the race – while Ocon finished one position behind his teammate with an alternate strategy.
No big problems at the start, just a small mistake by Nyck De Vries, who hit Norris’ diffuser in turn one without suffering huge damage.
The first laps saw intense tire management by all the drivers before the real race began around lap ten, and the two Red Bulls began to show the superiority of the RB19.
Thanks to a good undercut Carlos Sainz managed to overtake Alonso, but not without taking a penalty for speeding in the pits.
Only a few laps later, the Ferrari driver confirmed the difficulties of the SF23 on the hard tyre, getting overtaken by Fernando Alonso at the end of the long straight in the second sector.
Russell also passed the #55 Ferrari for fourth later on, proving that Ferrari was no better than fourth-fastest this weekend, as the odds might suggest.
A good Haas put Leclerc’s Ferrari in extreme difficulty for almost 40 laps, with Magnussen taking home his second point of the season in the American team’s home race.
Yuki Tsunoda was eleventh for the third time this season, ahead of Stroll and Bottas, with Alfa Romeo again outside of the top 10 – which has become quite common since the Bahrain GP.
Author: Andrea Vergani
Translation: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
