PANAJI
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put on a phenomenal drive from 9th on the grid after a poor qualifying on Saturday to claim a second successive win at the Miami Grand Prix in Florida, United States on Sunday night.
Starting in P9 on the hard tyre, the Dutchman dropped to tenth but was quick to clear Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon within the first lap to move into P8. By the end of Lap 3, Verstappen stayed as close as possible to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who was fighting the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for P6 and completed the move on the Dane before getting onto the main straight.
Knowing that both cars would sacrifice their exit going wheel-to-wheel, Max positioned the Red Bull perfectly to jump the Haas and the Ferrari with the help of Red Bull’s superior DRS on the main straight and slotted into P6 on Lap 4. The Dutchman was able to hunt down Mercedes’ George Russell and former teammate Pierre Gasly in the Alpine on Lap 8 and 9 respectively to move into P4.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was no match for the pace of the Red Bull as Max overtook him for P3 and moved into the podium places on Lap 14 before getting past veteran Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin on the next lap for P2 and putting himself in contention for the race win against teammate Sergio Perez who was struggling on the medium tyre.
Verstappen inherited the lead of the race on Lap 21 when Perez boxed for the hards whilst the Dutchman continued his brilliant stint for another 24 laps. On Lap 45, Max pitted for the mediums which saw both Red Bulls swap places once again as Max came out behind Perez with a 0.723-second margin.
With Verstappen on the mediums and shedding fuel load, it was only a matter of time before he caught Perez. The Mexican put on a strong resistance on Lap 47 but was unable to successfully defend against the 2-time champion who passed him for the lead on Lap 48.
The win saw Max build his driver’s championship lead by 14 points at the top to Perez whilst also equalling Sebastian Vettel’s 38 race wins for Red Bull. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished in third completing a fourth identical podium in five races.
