Luke Mills
Following a weekend of safety car chaos, celebrity spectators and the build of the Ferrari Vs Red Bull rivalry, we take a look at the highs and lows of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix for Formula 1’s greatest drivers.
As both the temperature and the tension began to rise in the Miami Hard Rock Stadium, thousands of spectators flocked to watch what had quickly become the most hyped race of the 2022 Formula 1 Season yet. Amongst the record 85,280 spectators included some of sports’ biggest names, as the likes of David Beckham and Michael Jordan arrived to enjoy a day of intense motorsports. Whilst an endless stream of celebrities poured into the paddocks to meet the teams and fans alike, the focus turned to the action ahead as the cars lined up on the grid; Charles Leclerc in P1, his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in P2 and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in P3. At 3:33 PM EDT, it was lights out at the Hard Rock Stadium.
As early as Turn 1, Verstappen was able to jump to P2 as he overtook Carlos Sainz. The Dutch driver continued his pursuit of Ferrari’s Leclerc and on Lap 9 he sailed past the Monegasque driver to take first place in the race. Verstappen appeared to be comfortable in his position until his lead was put into jeopardy by a messy crash involving McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, introducing a safety car into the later stages of the race. However, despite Leclerc’s attempts to snatch back his pole position after the exit of the safety car, he was unsuccessful in his overtake and Verstappen was able to maintain his lead - winning the race. Behind him came Leclerc in second, Sainz in third and Perez in fourth. Following Verstappen’s impressive victory at the inaugural Miami Grand-Prix (hence making him the first ever driver to win at this track), Red Bull boss Christian Horner praised his drivers for some “fantastic” racing but interestingly commented that they were “quite lucky” that Ferrari seemed to be lacking in pace.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the board’s standings, Mercedes’ George Russell pulled off an impressive performance as he jumped from P12 at the start of the race to P5 by the end - gaining him 5 points and placing him once again ahead of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. On the topic of Hamilton, it seemed that the seven-time World Champion continued to experience difficulties in his Mercedes on Sunday as he solemnly admitted the team have “not improved” since the beginning of the season. It was a similarly disappointing situation for the McLaren team as Lando Norris crashed out of the race whilst Daniel Ricciardo struggled to make any meaningful gains and was in the end unable to score any points. Speaking on the race’s outcome, Ricciardo echoed Norris’ frustration as he branded their strategy as more centred around defence rather than attack.
Below are the drivers who gained points at the Miami Grand-Prix:
Driver Points
Max Verstappen (Red Bull): +26 points
Charles Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari): +18 points
Carlos Sainz Jr. (Scuderia Ferrari): +15 points
Sergio Pérez (Red Bull): +12 points
George Russell (Mercedes): +10 points
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): +8 points
Valteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo): +6 points
Esteban Ocon (Alpine): +4 points
Alex Albon (Williams): +2 points
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin): +1 points
The next Grand-Prix will be held at Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya track on May 22nd. We can surely expect the Red Bull and Ferrari rivalry to intensify within the coming weeks.
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