SPRINT RACE

Verstappen beats Leclerc to take F1 Miami GP Sprint win

Max Verstappen converted pole position into another Sprint win at Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix to extend his advantage at the top of the championship once more.

The Dutchman survived a challenge from Charles Leclerc at the start to take his fourth straight Sprint triumph, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completing the top three.

There was drama before the cars even headed out on their reconnaissance laps as Esteban Ocon picked up a 10-second time drop for colliding with Leclerc’s Ferrari in the pit lane.

The entire 20-car field opted for the middle-range Medium compound except for RB’S Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargeant’s Williams, who both gambled on the Softs.

Leclerc utilised staring on fresh Mediums to pull alongside Verstappen at the start, but the Red Bull driver squeezed the Ferrari car towards the barrier and retained first heading into the first corner.

Behind the front-row starting pair, Daniel Ricciardo displaced Sergio Perez for third place, but there was chaos further back as Lando Norris was eliminated at Turn 1.

The Aston Martin drivers touched at the opening corner, with Norris becoming collateral damage as he endeavoured to venture round the outside, putting his Mclaren out on the spot.

Lance Stroll would sustain race-ending damage also, while Fernando Alonso, who had blamed Lewis Hamilton’s dive up the inside for the contact, incurred a puncture that ruined his hopes. Although the stewards determined that Hamilton had completed a “fast arrival” into the corner, no further action was taken, which Alonso had predicted based on his rival “not being Spanish”.

“But I think he ruined the race for a few people, especially Norris, who had a very fast car and he was out in that incident,” Alonso continued. Norris concurred with Alonso’s assessment, stating that it was “obvious” from his perspective that Hamilton’s ambitious move had been to blame for the collision that impacted three drivers.

“Lewis dived up the inside and caused the incident,” Norris said. “Nothing I could do about that.” The stricken Mclaren in the runoff area prompted the Safety Car to intervene on proceedings, with Verstappen still leading from pole ahead of Leclerc, Ricciardo, Perez and Sainz.

The racing would resume at the end of the third lap and Verstappen endeavoured to scamper up the road in customary fashion to open up a one-second lead over Leclerc inside two sectors.

Ricciardo’s position in the top three was coming under threat and Perez regained the place he lost at the start on Lap 5 with a move into Turn 11 at the end of the backstraight. Hamilton had capitalised on the events at the start to make up three places to ninth, but he bemoaned a lack of straight-line speed as he was stuck behind the Haas drivers. Kevin Magnussen had cut Turn 12 and remained in front of Hamilton as he had lined up a move, prompting the stewards to hand the Dane a 10-second time penalty.

Hamilton had then appeared to gain the high-ground around the outside into Turn 11 on Lap 14, but Magnussen released the brakes and forced both drivers to miss the turn. Tsunoda, who had been 15th on the grid, welcomed the invitation and moved past Hamilton for eighth, with both then demoting the penalised Magnussen down to 10th place as the stewards opened an investigation.

Magnussen was the recipient of a second 10-second drop to be added to his overall race time for the second incident with Hamilton, with a third penalty dropping him down to 17th in the order. Magnussen did not dispute the three 10-second time penalties, citing each one was “well deserved” and that he “started using stupid tactics, which I don’t like doing” to bolster Nico Hulkenberg’s chances. His questionable driving and those subsequent comments prompted Magnussen to be called to the stewards to determine whether he had fallen foul of unsportsmanlike conduct.

The stewards decided that there was “no clear evidence of an intention to behave in a manner that can be said to be unsportsmanlike” and Magnussen was cleared. However, the panel did “disagree” with the “way in which Car 20 was driven” and suggested that a rule alteration should be made to repeat offenders in a single event. Verstappen had resisted Leclerc to cross the line with a comfortable margin intact but expressed that it had been the “worst case scenario” as he continued to be unsettled with his RB20’S balance.

When asked by Motorsport Monday whether he was confident that he could improve the car, Verstappen said: “I hope this is [the] worst-case scenario, let’s say that, because I didn’t really feel happy with the car. “So there is definitely a lot of room for improvement and hopefully we can find that already in [Grand Prix] qualifying. But I think nonetheless in qualifying, it’s always so tricky around here on this track to get the tyres to work over one lap.”

Leclerc had been unable to bridge the small deficit to seriously challenge Verstappen; however, the Monegasque remained outside DRS range from Perez to claim a welcome second place.

Ricciardo was able to frustrate Sainz throughout the race to take a season-best fourth and pick up his first points in 2024, with the Spaniard having to settle for completing the top five runners.

“It felt, fighting towards the front just feels so much nicer, and you see a Ferrari in your mirrors and it’s like ‘Alright, challenge accepted, let’s do what we can’,” Ricciardo said. “To be honest every lap I was able to hold Carlos off, I kind of gave myself a little pat on the back every lap that passed.

“The team, they deserve it, I think we all deserve it. We’ve gone through a bit of - I can’t swear, but we’ve gone through a bit of stuff to get here, so it’s also nice to remind some people.”

Piastri claimed sixth position in the sole remaining Mclaren in the truncated race, as Hulkenberg delivered another two points for Haas with seventh on the road. Hamilton had pipped Tsunoda for eighth at the death, but the seven-time champion received the equivalent of a drive through penalty for speeding, relegating him to 16th.