Max Verstappen also wins from far behind in Miami – and thus sends Sergio Perez back to the second rank at Red Bull for the time being.
Max Verstappen grinned like a winner, then gave the beaten Sergio Perez a patronizing slap. With his demonstration of power in Miami, he had just wiped away all doubts and, above all, sent a message: Perez is a teammate, not a World Cup rival – Verstappen is still at the top of the World Cup rankings after a big race to catch up.
“It was a good race, a clean race,” said the winner relaxed, “I overtook one car after the other.” The Red Bull Star had started from ninth place on the grid, and at the very end there was only one left in the way. “It was a nice little fight with Sergio,” said Verstappen, which hit it quite well: he easily passed Perez and silenced tens of thousands of Mexican fans in Florida, who had greeted him with boos and whistles.
Verstappen passed ten laps before the end, it was a moment that could have a decisive effect on the title fight. After his victory in Baku a week ago, Perez, always a second man at Red Bull, had hope and even reached for the championship lead in Miami.
Verstappen finally screwed up qualifying with a brake and started far behind – but he is now leaving the USA with a 14-point lead over Perez. “The first stint was just weak,” said Perez, he smiled tormented: “It destroyed the race for me. That was a well-deserved victory for Max.”
Verstappen is booed again
Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin once again secured third place, but the old master had nothing to do with the decision, it was another Red Bull show: Alonso was more than 20 seconds behind in the end. Nico Hülkenberg missed out on the points in 15th place in the Haas, he had made a mistake on the brakes in qualifying on the slippery track.
Verstappen had also made such a mistake at the wrong time. The result was ninth place on the grid, so on Saturday evening everything spoke for Perez. And before the start, the Dutchman was also given a fairly clear indication of how the sympathies were distributed in Miami. The organizers of the US race added an unusual show element to the race, each driver was called out onto the track individually – Perez accompanied by chants, Verstappen accompanied by loud boos.
Conditions like in an away game for this race to catch up, but Verstappen approached them unperturbed. At the start, Perez effortlessly defended his lead in front of Alonso and Sainz, while his team-mate got to work further behind. After four laps he had already worked his way up from ninth to sixth place, also thanks to a spectacular double maneuver against Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas.
Verstappen with hard tires at the start
In the tenth lap, Verstappen was already fourth, which was a little faster than expected. Perez, on the other hand, was slower than expected: at the front he held a lead of almost two seconds over Alonso, but did not drive away. Only when Verstappen was in the top four did the Mexican pick up the pace a bit.
The tire situation now became important: Verstappen started with hard tires and was able to stay out longer, Perez had put on the medium tires, which were now noticeably wearing down. On lap 15, Verstappen moved up to second, was just four seconds behind team rivals and was closing in quickly – on lap 21 Perez then got the hard tires and fell back for the time being.
The game now supposedly began again, under the opposite sign: Perez accelerated with new tires – but he did not make up any time on Verstappen. After his pit stop, the Mexican narrowly overtook him, but the world champion had no trouble taking the lead again with fresh tyres.