Verstappen, on the other hand, skillfully extended his initial stint on hards to rise from P9 to P1 through a series of fine moves.
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In the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, Max Verstappen defeated Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to win. After qualifying ninth, Verstappen overtook the pole-sitter in the closing laps to reclaim the 2023 championship lead. Perez had cut Verstappen’s lead in the championship to just six points with a Sprint and Grand Prix double in Azerbaijan last time out, and a wild qualifying session at the Miami International Autodrome gave him a great chance to overtake Verstappen.
Verstappen, on the other hand, skillfully extended his initial stint on hards to rise from P9 to P1 through a series of fine moves, and he eventually emerged just behind his teammate with a fresh set of mediums late in the race. Perez, on the other hand, led the first half of the race on a medium-hard tyre strategy. Verstappen easily passed Perez with 10 laps left to take the lead, and he would not give it up. As a result, Perez was forced to settle for second place and lost some of the ground he had gained in the title race.
Verstappen not only claimed a commanding victory but also the ‘Driver of the Day’ honour and the fastest lap bonus point to add to his tally. Fans were duly impressed by his charge through the field. The Red Bulls were once again in a class of their own, so Fernando Alonso and the Aston Martin were left to take third place as the “best of the rest,” giving the new team four podium finishes in as many races. Due in part to teammate Lewis Hamilton avoiding him earlier in the race while using a different strategy and beating Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz in the process, George Russell was the leading Mercedes driver in fourth place.
Sainz received a five-second time penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pits while changing tyres, but there was enough of a distance between him and teammate Charles Leclerc to maintain fifth place at the finish line. With Pierre Gasly leading home teammate Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the points-paying positions after his P4 start, Alpine recovered from their Baku nightmare with a double points finish. After scoring in Australia and Azerbaijan, Yuki Tsunoda just missed out on a third point in his AlphaTauri, but he still managed to pass Lance Stroll of the Aston Martin and finish in P11 overall.
Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo finished the race inside the points early on but fell back to 13th as the various tyre strategies played out. Bottas was followed by Alex Albon of Williams, Nico Hulkenberg of Haas, and Zhou Guanyu of his team. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren, who were the only drivers to start on soft tyres, had quiet races en route to finishing 17th and 19th, respectively. The other AlphaTauri driven by Nyck de Vries was able to separate them, with Williams rookie and local favourite Logan Sargeant coming in last after making an early pit stop for a new front wing.
