Author: Barkha Roy
Max Verstappen recovered from his disappointment in Azerbaijan to win the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, forcing his teammate Sergio Perez to finish runner-up despite the latter leading the race for most of the day.
Verstappen, who started the race in ninth place on the grid following the spin by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that left the Dutchman in the shortest Q3 on Saturday, made steady progress on hard tires. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s teammate, was leading the race after finishing in pole position on qualifying day, just ahead of Fernando Alonso.
However, on lap 15, the eventual winner gained his position to take second place in the race, just behind his Mexican teammate. However, on the 21st lap, Pérez opted for hard tires and thus made a pit stop for the reigning champion to take the lead of the race.
Verstappen’s lead, however, was short-lived, as he himself made a pit stop to use medium tires and was thus once again forced to fall behind the Mexican on the day. However, that changed on lap 48, when Verstappen made a clean pass on Pérez at Turn 1, and ended up winning the race.
In an attempt to defend his position at Turn 17 on the previous lap, Pérez found himself overtaken by the faster medium tires of Verstappen, who had just made his pit stop. Pérez was using much slower hard tires, which were already 28 laps old, leaving him with few options to prevent Verstappen from overtaking him.
Fernando Alonso finished third in the Miami race, which is also the Aston Martin driver’s fourth podium this season. On lap 15, Verstappen overtook Alonso for second place and, although Alonso briefly tried to defend his position, he quickly gave up the fight as he knew that Verstappen’s Red Bull, with its powerful DRS fully open, was operating at a completely different level.
Meanwhile, Mercedes driver George Russell and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz came fourth and fifth in the race. After winning three of the first five races, Verstappen’s victory in the last race, combined with an extra point for the fastest lap, gave him a 14-point lead in the championship.