Max Verstappen came through ninth to win F1 Miami GP from Sergio Perez in a Red Bull 1-2, with Fernando Alonso third.
It was a clean start in F1 Miami GP from pole-sitter Sergio Perez in his Red Bull from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz where they maintained the Top 3. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly gained a place to be fourth from Mercedes’ George Russell.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was sixth as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen dropped to seventh from fourth, with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas in eighth ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in the Top 10 where Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was 11th.
There was a lock-up moment for AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries at the start as he ran in the back of McLaren’s Lando Norris at Turn 1 but the move was cleared by the stewards. There was an early stop for Williams’ Logan Sargeant for a front wing change.
Even the McLaren pair of Norris and Oscar Piastri stopped to change from their soft strating tyres. At the front, the Top 3 stationed themselves well but Verstappen passed Bottas to get on the back of the fighting Leclerc and Magnussen for sixth.
The Dane hurried the Monegasque to clear him for track position but Leclerc came back on him but on the main straight he was sandwiched between the two, which allowed Verstappen to clear them both in sixth as the Ferrari driver dropped to eighth.
Verstappen then cleared both Russell and Gasly to be fourth on the hard tyres, with the Brit making the most of the situation to pass the Frenchman for fifth. Magnussen held off Leclerc nicely, which allowed Ocon to get on the Ferrari driver’s tail.
Hulkenberg, meanwhile, tried to clear Bottas for 10th but went wide as he held off Williams’ Alexander Albon and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. The Brit was sandwiched at the start where he felt he was hit and suffered damaged as he relayed on the radio.
There was another attempt from Leclerc to clear Magnussen, he did so but the Dane came back on him to retake the place. The Dane held on until his pit stop, as Hulkenberg cleared Bottas for the final point and Hamilton passed Albon for 12th.
Verstappen, meanwhile, wasted no time to clear both Sainz and Alonso to be second on the road behind Perez. He assumed the lead after the Mexican pitted for the hard tyres. The fight for third became easier after a 5s penalty for Sainz for speeding in pitlane.
Even though Alonso came out behind Sainz after his pit stop, the Aston Martin driver didn’t waste time to take track position from him on track. The Ferrari driver had to fight off late-stopper Ocon and this brought Russell in the game who cleared him for track position.
There was another track position fight between Magnussen and Leclerc, where the Monegasque cleared the Dane in the final part of the circuit, only to be re-passed at Turn 1. The Ferrari driver waited then on the next lap to finally pass him at Turn 1.
At the front, Verstappen extended his stint to switch to the medium tyres and he came out close behind Perez. He wasted no time to pass him and take the F1 Miami GP lead and get ahead of him. Alonso was tucked in third from Russell and Sainz.
The Spaniard had a good gap to Gasly even with the penalty. The Frenchman had Leclerc behind him with Hamilton, Ocon and Magnussen rounding the Top 10. Tsunoda was 11th outside the points from Stroll and Bottas close by in the fight for last point.
The dying stages saw Leclerc and Hamilton clear Gasly for sixth and seventh. The Brit didn’t waste much time and cleared Leclerc to take sixth. At the front, Verstappen held on to win F1 Miami GP by 5.384s over Perez in a Red Bull 1-2 finish.
Alonso was 26.305s behind in third to complete the podium, as Russell was fourth from Sainz who kept fifth despite the penalty as Hamilton improved to sixth from 13th. Leclerc stayed seventh where he started from Gasly, Ocon and Magnussen in the Top 10.
Tsunoda made a sound recovery to 11th to keep Stroll behind as Bottas was 13th from Albon, with Hulkenberg dropping to 15th. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was 16th from Norris, de Vries, Oscar Piastri and Williams’ Logan Sargeant to see all 20 drivers finishing.
🏁 CLASSIFICATION (LAP 57/57) 🏁
How we crossed the line in Miami Gardens 🌴#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/vdEBuVIH3h
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2023
UPDATE: Perez was handed a reprimand (non-driving) for arriving late for the drivers’ parade. “The Stewards received a report from the Media Delegate that the the driver of Car 11 (Sergio Perez), was late for the driver’s parade,” said the report. “The Stewards heard from the team representative and the driver and determined that the driver was indeed late for the parade.
“The reason for the lateness was the team’s media and other commercial commitments that the driver had to satisfy before turning up for the parade. We considered that this was not a valid reason for the lateness. A driver turning up late for such events can have undesirable resultant consequences for the event and should be avoided at all times. In the circumstances, we decided to impose a Reprimand (non-driving) on the driver.”