Red Bull’s Max Verstappen said his victory in the Sunshine State was made all the more sweeter given his tough start to the Miami Grand Prix weekend
The say it is not how you start, but how you finish that matters.
For Max Verstappen and the Oracle Red Bull Racing Team, that phrase is an accurate depiction of the weekend of racing at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
Practice and qualifying sessions for Verstappen and the team were absolutely terrible. Terrible to the point that Verstappen did not have an actual standing start of the line. Verstappen finished the pre-race sessions qualifying third which came as a shock to most considering the multitude of mechanical issues the team went through.
“Honestly going into the race, I did not know what to expect in terms of the start since we had not had an opportunity all weekend to have one,” said Verstappen in the post race press conference.
But again, it is not how you start, it is how you finish and Verstappen and the state of Florida seem to have a vibe. Verstappen won at Palm Beach and at Homestead in his first season of car racing in 2014, and he won in Miami this past weekend. The win was also back-to-back wins in the United States as he won in Austin at the US Grand Prix in October of 2021.
Verstappen – starting the race in P3 – got off the line brilliantly, leapfrogging the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz at the start into Turn 1. Soon, he began to close in on Leclerc. The Ferrari driver lost the lead to his rival on the main straight at the start of Lap 9 of 57 and pitted from mediums to hards on Lap 24, causing Verstappen to react with his stop two laps later. It seemed that Verstappen would cruise to victory in front of Miami Gardens’ marina, but that was not to be.
A lap 41 caution, a VSC-turned-Safety Car triggered by a clash between Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris, which sent the McLaren driver into a spin as his right-rear tyre ripped off created a situation where a pit could prove costly but not pitting could prove detrimental as well. As the safety car exited with ten laps to go, neither Verrstappen or LeClerc chose to pit creating a shootout for the win.
The restart saw Verstappen struggle to build up a gap to Leclerc. It was equally difficult for Sainz, who was being hounded by medium-shod Sergio Perez for the final podium place.
Perez attempted to pass Sainz on Lap 52 but locked up, both drivers avoiding contact, while Leclerc was under half a second behind Verstappen in the chase for the lead. But neither Perez nor Leclerc could make headway, and the win – narrow as it was over the Ferraris – would be Verstappen’s.
Rounding out the top five was George Russell, who started 11th and pitted during the VSC, using the benefit of newer tyres to pass team mate Lewis Hamilton on Lap 54. Hamilton lamented the fact that he couldn’t pit during the VSC but was promoted to P6 when Valtteri Bottas went wide at Turn 17 on Lap 49.
Clinical from Verstappen 💪#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/HkwmfHQlA2
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2022
It has been feast or famine for Verstappen this season with now three wins and two DNFs in the five total races. The Miami win was his second Grand Prix in a row, backing up a grand slam (pole, most laps, and win) at Imola with victory in the first ever Miami Grand Prix, wrestling the lead off pole-sitter Leclerc early on then keeping it in the late Safety Car restart creating a 10-lap shootout for the win.
“It feels amazing to win in Miami, the whole atmosphere this weekend has been incredible and to win in the US is always a nice feeling,” said Verstappen. “It was a physically tough race; I think I must have lost around 3kgs! We had a really good pace on the minimum tire, that for sure helped to make my race. Once we had the pitstop I was just managing my time to Charles, I think we were very closely matched on the hard tire. Then the safety car came out which made it more entertaining for the fans, I had to push hard today but we made it work. I’m super pleased for the Team, we didn’t have a great start to the weekend so we’ve come far, a big thank you to everyone.”
Miami’s special podium celebrations, as you’ve never seen them before 👀#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/BpkiTYAO4h
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 9, 2022
Despite his victory, Verstappen said that Red Bull are still being plagued by reliability gremlins and called on the team to sort them out. Team mate Sergio Perez, who finished fourth, suffered a loss of power early in the race in his chase of podium-finisher Carlos Sainz.
“We still have issues we have to solve,” Verstappen stated in the post race press conference. “We are quick but, as you can see, my Friday was terrible, which was not great if you want to have a good weekend. Also I think Checo had a few issues in the race, so we have to be on top of that. We have a lot of potential, but we need to make sure it’s reliable.”
Regardless, Verstappen made history on Sunday with the first ever Grand Prix victory at the Miami International Autodrome. With the win, Verstappen now sits only 19 points behind Leclerc in the standings and Oracle Red Bull Racing has closed the massive gap in the Team Standings to six.
“It was a real tactical race today and we threw everything we had at it, we were quite lucky that Ferrari didn’t pit under the safety car, Max was under so much pressure from Charles Leclerc but he kept focus and didn’t make any mistakes and was gradually able to break the DRS, which was very powerful today and manage the victory from there,” said Christian Horner, Team Principal and CEO. “Checo was really unlucky today, he had a sensor issue early on and lost about 30 horsepower, and he gave it a real go when we pitted him and gave him the tyre advantage and without that issue he may even have finished second. We’ve got some interesting races coming up, the car is running well, we have some development coming in the summer and we need to lose some weight, but we’re pleased with what we’ve come away with this weekend.”
The surpring part of the race that developed throughout was that the Red Bull cars were faster in the medium speed sections through the turns where the Ferraris had been stellar all year. Combined with the pure speed domination in the straights, the pace was all Red Bull this weekend.
“Disappointed that we didn’t have enough pace to win the race today but we’ll work harder than ever to get back on top in race pace,” said Charles LeClerc post race. “Miami, you were incredible though, loved every seconds of this week.”
After two consecutive retirements, Carlos Sainz bounced back with a podium in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix – and the Spanish driver was understandably relieved to make it through all 57 laps without a hitch. The Ferrari driver said post race, it was a much-needed result, given he was spun out at the start of the Emilia Romagna GP, after crashing out in Australia.
“I think it was exactly what I needed, a clean race. No issues, decent start for starting on the right-hand side; there was zero grip out there on the right side but I did a clean race,” he said. “I think I managed to learn quite a lot from the car, managed to complete a race distance that I hadn’t done two races in a row, so it was important.”
Images Courtesy Formula 1/Twitter