Verstappen holds off Leclerc challenge to win Miami GP
RED Bull’s Max Verstappen won the inaugural Formula One Miami Grand Prix on Sunday by holding off a late challenge from Charles Leclerc to close in on the Ferrari driver atop the world championship standings.
Title-holder Verstappen, starting third, jumped the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz at the start and looked set for an easy victory when he passed pole sitter Leclerc on lap nine of 5 around the 5.412-kilometre Miami International Autodrome.
But a late safety car gave Leclerc hope and he attacked over four laps only to come undone by the unmatched straight line speed of the Red Bull.
Verstappen has now won three seasons races to Leclerc’s two and with the fastest lap bonus point now trails his rival 104-85 in the standings.
“It was an incredible grand prix, very physical, but we kept it exciting until the end,” Verstappen said in his podium interview. “I’m incredibly happy winning in Miami. It was an incredible Sunday for us.”
Sainz held on for third in front of Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull while Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton completed the top six.
The next race is the May 22 Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen had little competition at the th venue to host a F1 race until Lando Norris’ McLaren was taken out by the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly.
His lead of nearly 8 seconds
was wiped out and Leclerc, within a second to enable to DRS, scented an upset.
He was regularly close coming out corners due to his superior Ferrari downforce but simply lacked the pure speed to defeat Verstappen, who has won every race finished this season. “It was a very difficult race physically,” said Leclerc. “Towards the end I thought I could get Max at one point, but today they had the advantage in terms of pace.”
Perez had a slow pit stop and engine issue which stopped him seriously threatening Sainz, who himself secured a crucial podium after a difficult few races.
“We managed to keep the podium so it’s a decent result,” said Sainz. “It wasn’t easy at all. It was a tough race.”
Russell drove a massive stint to benefit from the safety car and took fifth from his seven-time world champion teammate Hamilton with fresher tyres.
Valtteri Bottas took seventh for Alfa Romeo while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon fought from the back of the grid to eighth after missing qualifying to replace his cracked chassis.
Fernando Alonso, despite a 5-second penalty for a collision, was ninth in the other Alpine and Alexander Albon completed the points for Williams
in 10th. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), uki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri), Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and Mick Schumacher (Haas) all finished.
Schumacher was heartbreakingly close to his first F1 points until a late collision with German compatriot Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin sent him down the order. Vettel, who like Stroll started from the pitlane due to a pre-race fuel cooling problem, appeared to have joined Gasly, Norris and the
Alfa Romeo of hou Guanyu in failing to finish but was later officially classified 1 th by F1, behind the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.