FERRARI POWERLESS, MAX ON MIAMI THRONE

Max Verstappen overtook the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. to win the inaugural Miami Grand Prix despite a late Safety Car that saw championship leader Leclerc put the defending champion under intense pressure in the closing stages of a thrilling race at the new Miami International Autodrome.

Verstappen’s third win of the season was hinted at the race start. Polesitter Leclerc made a good getaway to take the lead but Verstappen, on the clean side of the grid in P3, also got away well.

As the field raced towards Turn 1, the Dutchman position himself alongside second placed Sainz Jr., and taking a wide line into the first corner he held his line and his nerve to pass the Spaniard.

Pérez held fourth place behind Sainz Jr. while Valtteri Bottas claimed P5 for Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took sixth.

Lewis Hamilton dropped back after locking up into Turn 1 behind Pérez and after he banged wheels with Fernando Alonso who made a good start to briefly rise to seventh.

Briton recovered quickly and when DRS was enabled he passed Alonso and then on lap six moved past Gasly for sixth place.

At the front, Verstappen shadowed Leclerc through the opening phase of the race and on lap eight he closed right up to the Ferrari down the long back straight. He couldn’t make the move stick into Turn 17 but as they crossed the line to begin the next tour, Verstappen got DRS again and swept past the championship leader into Turn 1 to take the lead. The Dutch driver quickly began to build a gap.

Behind the leaders on lap 15, Sainz Jr. still led Pérez with the Ferrari driver 1.8s ahead of the Red Bull. On lap 18 Pérez began to close in on Sainz Jr. and at the start of lap 20 he edged toward DRS range of the Spaniard but suddenly the Mexican’s lost power and at the end of lap 20 he had dropped four seconds to the Ferrari.

He radioed his pit wall to report a loss of power and after being told to switch a sensor he was told to carry on. He continued to lose time, however, and on lap 23 he was eight seconds behind Sainz Jr..

Behind the top four, Bottas held fifth but as cars behind him made their first pit stops, George Russell, who had started on hard tyres, held to sixth ahead of team-mate Hamilton who had made his first tyre change.

At the end of lap 24 Leclerc made his first visit to the pit lane and after taking on hard tyres he rejoined in fourth place, eight seconds behind Pérez. Verstappen pitted at the end of lap 26 and in a 2.4s stop he took on hard tyres and emerged in P2, seven seconds behind new leader Sainz Jr..

At the end of lap 27 Sainz Jr.  made his way into the pit lane with Pérez also turning towards the pit lane behind him. Sainz’s crew had a problem with front right tyre in a slow 5.4s stop and Pérez closed to within five seconds of Sainz.

The Mexican was still nursing a drop in power, however, and he once again began to drop back from the Ferrari man. Verstappen, meanwhile, now led Leclerc by almost eight seconds with Sainz a further 10s back in third. Behind fourth-placed Pérez, Russell, still in need of a first pit stop, now held fifth ahead of Bottas and Hamilton.

On lap 41, race took dramatic change of it`s boring course. Pierre Gasly went wide through two corners and after drifting off track slowly rejoined. However, he failed to see Lando Norris behind and the two made contact. The McLaren driver’s right rear tyre punctured and after high speed spinning he came to a halt in the middle of track.

After a brief VSC the real Safety Car was deployed. Verstappen and Leclerc stayed on track behind the SC but Red Bull pitted Pérez and he was able to take on fresh medium tyres and rejoin ahead of Bottas to hold fourth ahead of Hamilton and Russell who benefited from a free stop to bolt on a set of medium tyres.

The Safety Car left the track at the end of lap 46 Verstappen controlled the restart well to hold the lead. Pérez, on new mediums, attacked Sainz Jr.. He couldn’t make the move stick, however, and he had to settle back into fourth to plot another assault.

When DRS enabled Pérez shadowed the Spaniards again and on lap 52 he attacked again into Turn 1. But he went too deep into the corner and Sainz Jr. eased his way past the locked up Mexican to stay in third.

The battle for the lead was just as intense. Leclerc closed in on the Dutchman and with the aid of DRS made repeated attacks. But, with better straight-line speed, Verstappen was able to keep the Ferrari at bay and on lap 53 he began to pull away slightly from his title rival.

On lap 54 Verstappen broke DRS and his eventual victory was sealed. The Dutch driver took his third win of the season, and the point for fastest lap, almost four seconds ahead of Leclerc, while Sainz Jr. managed to hold off Pérez to take his ninth career podium with third place.

Behind Pérez, Russell passed Hamilton in the closing stages to take fifth place ahead of Hamilton and Bottas who made a mistake late on that allowed the Mercedes AMG cars to pass.

Esteban Ocon benefited from a free stop under the Safety Car to rise from the back of the grid to eighth at the flag ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso and the final point went to Williams’ Alex Albon.

Later, after the race Fernando Alonso was penalized by stewards with additional 5 seconds on his time, which demote him to 11 place and out of point scorers. Lance Strol got 1 point for 10th place, while Alex Albon got 2 instead of 1 point.