The World Cup leader staged an amazing comeback from ninth position to take his third victory of the season, ahead of Checo and Fernando
Sainz completed a solid race but was hampered by a penalty during his pit stop, while his teammate Leclerc finished seventh
“I have complicated my life myself and I have to be the one to solve it,” he said on Saturday max verstappen, furious after his mistake in Q3. The champion and current leader of the World Cup never gives up and he showed it again this Sunday, scoring a superb victory at the Miami Grand Prix, fifth appointment on the calendar. The Dutchman staged an amazing comeback from ninth position to take his third victory of the season, ahead of his teammate Sergio Pérez (whom he leaves 14 points behind in the championship) and again with Fernando Alonso as third in contention.
The Aston Martin driver from Astuaria, who got off the podium for the first time this year in Baku, recovered his privileged position to once again be the best of the rest after a Red Bull team that continues in another dimension. Carlos Sainz, who received a five-second penalty at his pit stop, dropped to fifth after being passed by Russell (Mercedes). Without a doubt, a blow to Ferrari’s morale, aggravated by Leclerc’s seventh place.
The clue an unknown
The classification of Miami surprised everyone with its final result. an accident of leclerc frustrated the second attempt of the pilots in Q3 and allowed Sergio Perez keep the pole already Fernando Alonso finishing second for the second time this season. Carlos Sainz started third on the grid and Verstappen started the race forced to come back from ninth position.
The rain unloaded hard during the night of Saturday in Miami, turning the new asphalt of the Hard Rock Stadium circuit into a skating rink. A factor that could be decisive, especially at the start, with cold tires, with less grip and greater uncertainty in terms of degradation, which, however, was not fulfilled.
Starting second, for the dirty part, Alonso had a disadvantage compared to Sainz, due to the clean area, but the rain that fell hours before the race equalized the conditions. The Asturian came out better than Czech and stopped Carlos but he could not complete his attack on the Mexican, who escaped alone.
Max, attack
Verstappen opted for a different strategy and mounted hard entry tires. In just four laps, he took advantage of the Red Bull’s speed to get rid of two rivals, Magnussen and Leclerc, who did not put up the expected resistance. The champion had another uncomfortable rival ahead of him, Russellto access the top five. A quick lap hit Max was inevitably approaching the head of the race.
The Mercedes, with vibration problems throughout the weekend, cleared the way for the ride of Verstappenwhich also unceremoniously surpassed Gasly and in just ten laps it already appeared in the rear-view mirror of Sainz. Maxfired up after his mistake in qualifying on Saturday after being the fastest since Friday, was dangerously close and Czech He changed the rhythm to try to open the distance.
Sainz, penalized
Sainz and Alonso were also easy prey for the Red Bull champion, that culminated his comeback overtaking Ferdinand after fifteen laps to be less than 4 seconds behind perezwhich began to suffer degradation with the media. Ferrari attempted an undercut on Alonso with a very fast pit stop by Carlos to which Aston Martin did not immediately respond, while the Spaniard returned to the track in heavy traffic and the FIA scored a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.perez made his stop on lap 21 and Verstappen inherited the lead, while alonso who entered the 25th, secured the third position against Sainz for the penalty, but even so he maintained a splendid pulse to overtake him on the track. While, leclercwithout rhythm and lost in the lower area of the table, still did not react.
Verstappen he made the most of his stint with the hard starting ones and allowed himself to set the fastest lap with 42-lap tires before making his only stop. Russell threw a withering attack on Sainz to try to hunt down Alonsowhich gave the British no choice.
Checo regained first place with the save of Max, who put the means to face the end of the race and realized the Mexican with nine laps to go to set course for his third victory of the season. Red Bull imposed its law and signed its fourth double of the year, again with Fernando Alonso best of the rest, in third place. Russell left Sainz relegated to fifth position and Leclerc finished seventh, a balance that Ferrari certainly did not expect after returning to the podium in Baku.
Improvements at Imola
While in Miami Ferrari has been the team that has incorporated the most innovations and practically the only one, Mercedes and Aston Martin are preparing important developments for the first of the three races on European soil that will come together after the break next weekend, in a real sprint for the teams: Imola (May 21), Monaco (May 28) and Barcelona (June 4).
Alonso’s team already warned after the unexpected podium in the opening race in Bahrain, that they planned to end the season with a totally different car from the one that started the World Cup. “Two thirds of the car that will reach the last races will be different, there is a great margin for development & rdquor ;, warned those from Silvertstone. The first significant improvement is expected at the next Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Aston Martin finished seventh in the manufacturers last year, so they are entitled by regulation to 37% more time in the wind tunnel and computer than Red Bull. The margin with Ferrari is 25% more. And regarding Mercedes, it is higher than 20%. The next few races will determine how close the gap can be.
Miami GP (57 laps)
1.Max Verstappen (RED BULL) 1:27:38.241
2. Sergio Perez (RED BULL) at 5,384
3. Fernando Alonso (ASTON MARTIN) at 26,305
4. George Russell (MERCEDES) at 33,229
5. Carlos Sainz (FERRARI) at 47,511
6. Lewis Hamilton (MERCEDES) at 51,249
7. Charles Leclerc (FERRARI) at 52,988
8. Pierre Gasly (ALPINE) at 55,670
9. Esteban Ocon (ALPINE) at 58,123
10. Kevin Magnussen (HAAS) at 1:02.945
11. Yuki Tsunoda (ALPHATAURI) at 1:04.309
12. Lance Stroll (ASTON MARTIN) at 1:04.754
13. Valtteri Bottas (ALFA ROMEO) at 1:11.637
14. Alexander Albon (WILLIAMS) at 1:12.861
15. Nico Hulkenberg (HAAS) at 1:14.950
16. Guanyu Zhou (ALFA ROMEO) at 1:18.440
17. Lando Norris (MCLAREN) at 1:27.717
18. Nyck de Vries (ALPHATAURI) at 1:28.949
19. Oscar Piastri (MCLAREN) 1 lap
20. Logan Sargeant (WILLIAMS) 1 lap away