Miami GP: Max winner, Ferrari 2-3

The reigning World Champion Max Verstappen pulled off a killer move to pass both the Ferraris and win the race in Miami.

Mighty Max in Miami

RedBull had the straight-line pace as compared to Ferrari and Max made the most of it. Starting P3 Max got a great start to get ahead of Carlos Sainz on the first turn. Then within a few laps Max blasted past the current Championship leader Charles LeClerc to lead the race. From that point onwards there was no looking back for the Mighty Max in Miami. Max has won all the races that he has finished in 2022 and looks in mighty form.

No Challenge from Ferrari in Miami

Ferrari just did not have the raw power of the RedBull engine. To make matters worse the Ferrari tyre degradation was worse than that of RedBull. Once Charles was overtaken by Max he just couldn’t keep up with the raging RedBull, even with the DRS. There was an opportunity towards the end after a safety-car restart but even that did not materialize. Charles is only 19 points ahead of Max and the gap keeps on closing. Ferrari needs to bring more upgrades if they want to stay in the game.

Carlos Sainz would be somewhat happy with the podium finish. He couldn’t finish the last two races and the practice sessions did not go well too. He managed to stay in P3 position for most of the race, although he did have a scare in the end after the safety-car restart when Checo on his fresh-mediums was attacking Carlos on old hards. Checo meanwhile showed good pace. Had it not been for a technical issue with the engine which costed him losing around 26hp of power, he would have challenged the two Ferraris for sure. Still RedBull would be happy with his P4 finish.

Mercedes making the most in Miami

Lewis Hamilton started P6 and finished in the same position. George Russell had a great day. He started P12, slipped to P14 but then managed to be in top 10 by running long on his hard tyres. Then luck favoured him as he got to pit under virtual safety car, saving him valuable seconds. He is the only driver in 2022 to finish in top 5 in all the races.

Bottas is also in the form of his life and in a happy position. He started P5 and was holding on to it but then towards the end he braked late at one corner, allowing both the Mercs to pass through.

Esteban Ocon meanwhile had a great race starting last, making the right strategy calls and finished P8. His team-mate Alonso however got penalized twice, which forced him out of the points. Alex Albon with his red-dyed hair had good pace in his Williams. Thanks to the penalties and crashes of others he ended up finishing P9. Lance Stroll took the P10 position.

Almost there for Mick

Mick Schumacher was all set to score his first F1 points but then he crashed into his dear friend and mentor Sebastian Vettel, taking both of them to the back of the grid. He must be feeling very unhappy about the missed opportunity. McLaren had a day to forget with Lando crashing into Gasly and Daniel getting penalty and thrown out of the points. Same with Alpha Tauri. Both the drivers had a very good Quali session but couldn’t capitalize in the race.

Drivers Standing after Miami GP