The Miami Grand Prix was clearly dominated by Red Bull. Alonso was also on the podium, Verstappen broke Sebastian Vettel’s record

Formula 1 had its fifth race of the season, the Miami Grand Prix, on Sunday, May 7. Max Verstappen took the win, with Sergio Pérez finishing second. Red Bull thus recorded another double this season, with Fernando Alonso completing the podium pairing.

After Saturday’s qualifying, the Miami Grand Prix promised to be a spectacle, and the fifth F1 event of the season delivered in part. We saw a few overtaking manoeuvres and quite a few micro stories on the track.

In the end, however, the Miami Grand Prix ended much like much of the 2023 season so far. What did the starting grid look like before all five lights went out, however?

The opening circuits, the incredible Verstappen

After the first corner and the opening laps of the Miami Grand Prix, the standings, particularly in the top five, hadn’t changed too much. Sergio Pérez held on to his first position, while Fernando Alonso failed to make a successful attack on ‘P1’. Carlos Sainz remained third. Pierre Gasly moved up to fourth and George Russell to fifth.

In the fourth round of the Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen, after starting from ninth position, fought his way up to sixth, passing both Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen at one point.

The reigning champion continued to move up the order over the following laps. By lap eleven he was on the scoreboard in position number four, and three laps later he also overtook Sainz to secure the podium.

On lap fifteen, he overtook Alonso and from then on both Red Bull drivers were in the lead of the Miami Grand Prix. Magnussen in the Haas was well off the top five in terms of race pace, and the same could be said for Leclerc, who was stuck in eighth place.

Pit stops, penalties for Sainz

By the stroke of lap 19, half of the field had completed the necessary pit stops. Sainz switched from medium specification tyres to hard, the same goes for Russell, Gasly, Magnussen, Leclerc, Bottas, De Vries and Sargeant. Norris and Piastri switched from soft to hard.

It should be added, Sainz collected a five-second penalty from the sports commissioners on lap 23 as a result of exceeding the pit lane speed limit. He started from third place with his mechanics.

On lap 28, an interesting duel took place on the track between the Spanish drivers – Sainz and Alonso. This duel went better for the more experienced of the pair, with the Aston Martin driver moving up to fourth, just ahead of Sainz.

This is how the top ten points standings looked after 29 laps of the Miami Grand Prix. The leader was Verstappen, who took the top spot thanks to a pit-stop, with Pérez second, Alonso third, Esteban Ocon fourth, Sainz fifth, Lewis Hamilton sixth, Russell seventh, Nico Hülkenberg eighth, Júki Cunoda ninth and Pierre Gasly tenth.

It should be noted, Verstappen, Ocon, Hamilton, Hülkenberg, Cunoda, Stroll and Zhou were still not in the pits at that time. The entire starting field at this time was running on hard, the hardest tyre compound marked in white.

Mercedes team direction, second half of the race

On lap 33, there was a team override on the Mercedes side when Hamilton was told over the headset to give his place to Russell. He was simply the faster driver, and the German team was hoping for a better race result from this move. And that’s what they got, as Russell passed Sainz on lap 39 to take fourth place.

After lap 45, the Miami Grand Prix top ten points standings were as follows. Verstappen was the leader, with Pérez second, Alonso third, Russell fourth, Sainz fifth, Gasly sixth, Leclerc seventh, Magnussen eighth, Hamilton ninth and Ocon tenth.

At the start of lap 46, Verstappen finally pitted as well, switching from the hard compound to the medium tyre, marked in yellow. Pérez then took the race lead after exiting the pits, but not for long.

On lap 48, the current drivers’ championship leader overtook him to regain the lead in the Miami Grand Prix. In addition to his great performance, Verstappen also added the fastest lap of the race – 1:29.708.

Verstappen won the fifth race of the F1 season ahead of his teammate Pérez, with Alonso completing the podium. The legendary Spaniard celebrated his fourth podium of the current season.

Russell finished fourth, Sainz fifth, Hamilton sixth, who overtook Leclerc for seventh in the closing laps, Gasly eighth, Ocon ninth and Magnussen tenth. It should be noted, Verstappen surpassed Sebastian Vettel in terms of wins in Red Bull colours with this victory.

Sources