Max Verstappen charged through the field from 9th on the grid to seal victory in Miami. He becomes only the fifth driver in the sport's history to win a race from 9th on the grid, and it’s the first time it’s been done since 1984.
Sergio Perez started from pole position and drove an incredible race, but in the end, he couldn’t match the pace of his teammate. Verstappen was much quicker on the fresh medium tires and made his move for the race lead with less than 10 laps to go.
Fernando Alonso managed to hang on for third place. After starting in second, the Spaniard had to fight off Carlos Sainz, who was eager to get on the podium for the first time this season in his Ferrari.
The Miami Grand Prix was great, but there are a lot of finer details that you might have missed - let’s take a closer look!
It’s Red Bull All Season
Red Bull has taken victory in all five races that we’ve had so far this season. It’s three victories for Max, and two for Checo so far. Four out of the five races have been 1-2 finishes, which is Red Bull’s strongest-ever streak.
It’s clear that the RB19 is the most dominant car that they have ever built. Despite the Red Bulls being strong at every circuit, there’s an exciting battle shaping up for the World Championship between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
After Miami, Verstappen leads the championship with 119 points, and he’s got Checo behind him with 105 points. There are still plenty of races to go this season, which gives Perez time to catch up to his teammate. Remember, the slightest mistake or mechanical failure could change the outlook of the entire championship.
This could be a repeat of the 2016 battle we saw between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg - if that’s the case, we could be in for an exhilarating rivalry this year!
Best of the Rest
The title of “Best of the Rest” is still up for grabs. We’ve seen Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Ferrari all stand on the podium so far this season. But, even after five races, it’s still unclear as to which team has the upper hand!
Ferrari are quick in qualifying, and their car seems to be best suited to the slow and medium-speed corners. That means they’ll be quick in the next three races (Imola, Barcelona, and Monaco).
Mercedes struggle in qualifying. That was proven once again with Lewis Hamilton only managing 13th in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix. However, they have a stronger race pace, and they always seem to fight their way back through the grid on Sunday.
Aston Martin has the best package overall, and they’re lurking right behind Red Bull, just waiting for them to make a mistake before stealing a victory. However, Lance Stroll seems to be the weaker link at the moment. While Fernando Alonso has been on the podium four times, Stroll has only managed a best-race finish of fourth in Australia. He’s clearly got the talent, but he needs to up his fame and catch up to his teammate.
Battle of the Upgrades
We’re heading back to Europe for the next race, which means that the majority of teams have some massive upgrades planned. Ferrari has been hyping up their Imola upgrade package for weeks now, so we’ll finally get to see whether it can get them any closer to Red Bull or not.
Mercedes and Aston Martin will also likely bring upgrades to Imola, but they have been keeping their upgrades relatively quiet compared to other teams. Nevertheless, they could also close the gap to Red Bull.
It’ll be interesting to see which of these teams gets their development right and moves ahead of the rest. Aside from the Red Bull dominance, the battles are quite close between the rest of the teams.
McLaren is another struggling team that needs to take some serious strides forward. Miami was another disappointment for the British team as they spent the majority of the race near the back, fighting for survival despite bringing a brand new floor design to the first race on US soil.
Alpine has also been criticized by its CEO. The team has been putting in a ton of effort, but they haven’t been moving forward, which has left everyone in the French team a little bit frustrated. We might see them improve their pace with a couple of upgrades in Imola as well.
Back on European Soil
For the next race, we’re heading back to Europe. It’s time for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. Imola is a traditional race track that always serves up an incredible spectacle, especially in the last two seasons!
The race has been given the green light despite severe thunderstorms plaguing the area, so we might finally get some interesting weather conditions for a race in 2023.
The next race is from the 19th to the 21st of May, make sure you don’t miss it!
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