Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen won the second sprint of the season beating Charles Leclerc in the Miami Grand Prix.
At the start, Leclerc appeared to gain well against Verstappen before the polesitter went left and made sure of the lead into Turn 1, where Leclerc saw off Sergio Perez’s attentions and that allowed Daniel Ricciardo to get ahead into third as they raced away.
Lando Norris never got that far as he was taken out on Turn 1’s outside line – the McLaren an innocent victim of a chain of events involving Hamilton braking very late on the inside and hitting Fernando Alonso, who was also close to Lance Stroll and they collided, which collected into Norris.
As the McLaren was left stranded on the inside – with Stroll later retiring in the pits the next time by – the safety car was called out before the restart of lap four of 19.
Verstappen aced the restart and immediately pulled out of DRS threat to Leclerc for when the system was finally activated for the first time on lap 5, during which Perez easily got back by Ricciardo with a DRS run down the back straight.
Perez could not then get quickly after Leclerc, who stuck close to Verstappen as they lapped in the low one minute, 31 second gap no one else could reach.
By the halfway stage, Verstappen led Leclerc by 2.2 seconds, with Perez finally starting to edge closer back towards Leclerc as Ricciardo held off Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen then reported his car balance and degradation were “terrible” with “zero rear grip, like quali”, at which point on lap ten Leclerc closed back in on the lead to bring the lead back under two seconds.
The gap was swinging between the two, but Verstappen eventually pulled away to win by 3.3 seconds, with Perez reducing Leclerc’s advantage through the race’s final third to finish 1.7 seconds further behind in third.
Ricciardo held off Sainz’s race-long attentions in fourth and fifth, with Oscar Piastri also less than a second back in their three-car train adrift of the leaders.
Nico Hulkenberg took seventh for Haas ahead of Hamilton, who had the most dramatic race following the Turn 1 close for which the race stewards deciding no blame – most of his action involving Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas.
Hamilton was handed a post-race 20-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane during the early safety car period, which dropped him to P16 in the final results.
Hamilton struggled to get by Magnussen when DRS was activated, complaining about a lack of top speed in his Mercedes.
On lap eight, Magnussen cut the chicane ahead of Hamilton, while three laps later they collided through the long Turn 12 right-hander after the back straight, where Magnussen had been coming back from leaving the track.
On lap 14, Hamilton attacked Magnussen on the outside run to Turn 11 but Magnussen braked so late on the inside they both went off and Yuki Tsunoda took the opportunity to get ahead of the Mercedes.
Magnussen, who by this time had been handed a 10-second penalty for cutting the chicane, then let Tsunoda and Hamilton by before he was handed three more penalties for the other incidents involving Hamilton, who repassed Tsunoda’s RB on the final lap.
These included a five-second time addition for track limits abuse, which meant the Haas driver finished last in the standings, behind Alonso, who had dropped to the rear of the field following the Turn 1 contact and later fought Esteban Ocon’s Alpine before the Aston Martin made a late pitstop.
Ocon ended up P15 having served a 10-second stop-go penalty during the safety car for hitting Leclerc on the laps to the grid and breaking his own front wing.
Hamilton’s post-race penalty was given for speeding in the pitlane, which occurred on one of the occasions the whole field twice touring through the pits behind the safety car as the lap one crash debris and Norris’s McLaren were cleared away.
Norris faces an investigation now the sprint has concluded for walking across the track back to the pits following the early accident.
So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the Miami sprint. These extra points will do nicely for the championship. Good to see RB scoring double points with Daniel Ricciardo taking P4 with Yuki Tsunoda finishing in P8. Qualifying will be next.
Miami Grand Prix, sprint results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 31:31.383
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +3.371s
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull +5.095s
4 Daniel Ricciardo RB +14.971s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +15.222s
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren +15.750s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +22.054s
8 Yuki Tsunoda RB +29.816s
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +31.880s
10 Logan Sargeant Williams +34.355s
11 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +35.078s
12 George Russell Mercedes +35.755s
13 Alexander Albon Williams +36.086s
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +36.892s
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +37.740s
16 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +49.347s
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +59.409s
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas +66.303s
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF
Lando Norris McLaren DNF
Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory during Saturday’s Sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix, leading home Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez at the end of an action-packed encounter.
Verstappen defended his lead at the start and overcame an early Safety Car before building up a comfortable advantage at the head of the field, with Leclerc settling for second and Perez fighting back against fast starter Daniel Ricciardo to claim third.
Ricciardo brilliantly fended off the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri – who was the sole McLaren finisher after Lando Norris retired on the first lap – to take fourth, with Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the points.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-charges-to-sprint-race-win-over-leclerc-and-perez-in-miami.3ziV5jwPsEc5HCQ1ODdIUF
RB’s Daniel Ricciardo says his fourth-place finish in the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix sprint race was a result that will “keep a few people quiet”.
The 34-year-old Australian scored his best F1 result since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix for McLaren, gaining a spot from Red Bull’s Sergio Perez at the first corner but then dropping behind him five laps later, shortly after a safety car restart.
After losing DRS on Perez, Ricciardo came under incessant pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for the rest of the race but he held the Spaniard at bay for his best finish yet for the RB squad.
“Every big result feels like it’s a needed one,” Ricciardo told Sky Sports F1. “It’s a happy feeling, a powerful feeling.
“Also to back up qualifying, it was obviously great, but to back it up over the course of a sprint race, that’s even more satisfying. So it feels very good and it’s nice to also keep a few people quiet.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ricciardo-miami-gp-sprint-f1-result-nice-to-keep-a-few-people-quiet/10606832/
Kevin Magnussen says his four Miami Grand Prix Formula 1 sprint race penalties were “well deserved” for his “stupid tactics” racing Lewis Hamilton, but reckons his actions saved points for Haas.
Magnussen was handed three 10-second time additions for repeatedly leaving the track and gaining advantages, plus one five-second penalty and a black-and-white warning flag for additional track-limits abuse during the 19-lap contest around the Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday afternoon. He has been summoned by the stewards over alleged unsportsmanlike behaviour.
“All the penalties were well deserved,” Magnussen told Sky Sports F1 post-race. “No doubt about it.
“But I had to play the game again. I was in a very good position behind Nico there. At the beginning of the race I gained a lot positions, was up in P8 and protecting well from Lewis because I had DRS from Nico and had good pace.
“But then Nico cut the chicane and I lost the DRS [on lap six in an incident that was not investigated].
“Nico could’ve given that back to give me the DRS to protect because then we would’ve easily been P7-P8. Instead, I was really vulnerable to Lewis [and we] started fighting like crazy.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/magnussen-miami-f1-sprint-penalties-deserved-for-stupid-tactics/10606806/
Lewis Hamilton said he welcomed Kevin Magnussen’s honesty in admitting that his ultra-defensive “stupid tactics” in Miami’s Formula 1 sprint race were down to trying to help his team.
The seven-time world champion and his Haas rival had some fraught moments during their fight for eighth place in the sprint.
Magnussen picked up a penalty for cutting the chicane on one lap, they banged wheels later on and then both ran off the circuit later during their fight.
Although the Haas’ defence derailed Hamilton’s hopes of moving forward, he was clear afterwards that he saw nothing wrong with what Magnussen did – and actually welcomed the fact that the Dane had owned up to making things difficult.
“I mean, it’s really honest of him. I think it’s pretty cool,” Hamilton told Sky. “We had a good race. It was a little bit on the edge in some places, but that is what I love. I love racing hard.
“So for me, it wasn’t really frustrating or anything. That is obviously what you do to work as a team. So bravo.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-magnussen-honesty-stupid-tactics-pretty-cool/10606814/