MIAMI GP – Max Verstappen wins by four seconds after another hard fought battle with Charles Leclerc
Max Verstappen has beaten Charles Leclerc by almost four seconds to win the Miami Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver looked to control most of the race after making a good start to spilt the two Ferrari’s off the line, and then close up on Leclerc during the opening laps before locking up and allowing Verstappen to past him at the hairpin on lap thirteen.
Verstappen was cruising to an easy win after passing Leclerc early in the race but a late safety car brought them back together for a restart with ten laps to go. But the Red Bull driver had edged out enough of a lead to take victory by eight seconds. That margin was cut to just three by a late safety car with a quarter of the race to go when Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris crashed.
The crash happened because Gasly appeared to be driving slowly on the racing line following a minor collision with Fernando Alonso, seemly unaware Norris appeared to continue at speed. The McLaren then tagged the Frenchman, pitching him into a spin and ripping the rear tyre off Norris’s car.
Gasly had just recovered from contact with Fernando Alonso, and was trying to carry on but ran wide at the Marina when Norris tried to overtake, reporting his “car doesn’t turn,” and the contact spun Norris around and knocked off his right rear.
Alonso was given a five seconds worth of penalties one for the over optimistic move on Gasly and gaining a lasting advantage dropping him to eleventh. Which prompted teammate Esteban Ocon to eight, Alex Albon to ninth and Lance Stroll to tenth.
The two favourites for this year’s championship scrapped hard, but it didn’t have the fireworks like in the opening race, with the Red Bull driver controlling the race and going on to take his third win of the season. Leclerc however continued to push into the closing stages but was unable to close the gap and settled for second. Verstappen’s victory sees him cut Leclerc’s championship lead to nineteen points.
Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz recovered from his difficult start to the weekend to finish third seven-tenths behind. The Spaniard managed to hold on to third despite coming under pressure from Sergio Perez, who tried to use the advantage of switching to new medium tyres to pass the second Ferrari.
Verstappen said, “It was an incredible Grand Prix. Very physical but I think we kept it exciting until the end. I am incredibly happy with winning here in Miami, it was an incredible Sunday for us.”
Sainz added, “Nice and warm. I’ve been better. After the crash on Friday I still had a bit of neck pain going into the race and had to fight through it and we managed to get a decent result.”
George Russell brought his Mercedes home fifth finishing almost three tenths ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Russell looked to be the quicker of the Mercedes drivers taking advantage of the safety car to switch to fresh tyres, which then set him up to pass Hamilton with three laps to go.
Russell drove a steady race coming from twelfth, he took advantage of the safety car to go long making up places as others made their stops. The twenty-four year old finishing ahead of the seven time champion for the fourth race in a row.
He had started twelve running a long strategy which gave him track position over Hamilton and when Valtteri Bottas ran too deep at Hospitality Hairpin, his former teammate Hamilton and the man who replaced him at Mercedes managed to pass him with seven laps to go.
With three laps to go, both Mercedes past Bottas, the Alfa Romeo driver had run for most of the race ahead of his former team, but under pressure in the closing stages of the race Russell ran wide.
Hamilton did make up positions at the start of the race, but contact with Fernando Alonso left him unable to get close to Bottas before the safety car. While he finished ahead of Bottas, his streak of finishing behind Russell continued.
It was another unfortunately-timed Safety Car for Hamilton, who toyed with pitting for fresh tyres but eventually stayed out – leaving him somewhat of a sitting duck to his teammate.
Esteban Ocon brought his Alpine home eighth, finishing three tenths ahead of his teammate Alonso. The Williams of Alex Albon rounded out the top ten, two and a quarter tenths behind the Alpine duo.
Daniel Ricciardo brought his McLaren home eleventh, finishing a second ahead of Lance Stroll. Stroll would also find himself in the path and made contact with Kevin Magnussen, but without the same consequences as their teammates.
A late collision at Paddock District, between Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher, saw Vettel retire with huge damage to his side pod and the Haas driver having to stop for a front wing change. Schumacher re-joining last and the incident is currently under investigation.
Guanyu Zhou was the only other driver to retire early on the race, being told to stop. In the pit lane.
Related
- Miami GP – Qualifying Result
- MIAMI GP – Charles Leclerc beats teammate Carlos Sainz to pole by almost two tenths with Max Verstappen losing out on final run
- MIAMI GP – George Russell fastest in second practice a tenth ahead of Charles Leclerc as Mercedes prove competitive
- MIAMI GP – Charles Leclerc sets the pace in first practice, seven hundredths ahead of George Russell
- F1 Today – Miami Prixview – 05/05/2022
- PRIXVIEW – Miami Grand Prix