The wonderful thing about such a first race on a track is that every single event immediately means a world premiere: who will get pole position? world premiere! Who will snag the fastest lap? world premiere! Who wins the race? world premiere! And yet this first race on the brand-new track in Miami almost ended relatively uneventfully. In any case, almost all the drivers steered their racing cars so carefully over the track in the Hard Rock Stadium parking lot that a world premiere would not have happened: there was not much missing, and the safety car would not have been on the track in Florida at all disengaged.
The Americans, who are used to a lot of action from their beloved Nascar races, had to wait 41 of 57 laps. But then Pierre Gasly touched the right rear wheel of Lando Stroll’s McLaren with the left front wheel of his Alpha Tauri. His racing car spun like a top on the track, then came to a standstill. In a sloping position, because there was no more rubber to support it at the back right, it protruded into the air at the front left.
Finally, a safety car!
At the front, the Red Bull driver Sergio Perez took advantage of the moment to get a new set of tyres. He drove fourth. His teammate Max Verstappen led the field, with the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rolling in between. Eleven laps before the end, Bernd Mayländer gave the go-ahead again for the race, which had so far had few highlights to offer. Perez attacked on fresh tires but couldn’t get past Sainz. But he kept going, lap after lap. Just like Leclerc, who bit the rear of Verstappen. The drivers behind, who have the right to flatten their rear wings at three positions on the track if they are close enough to the vehicle in front, tried to overtake them. Perez made it past for a very short time – then Sainz countered.
In the end, there’s still a Formula 1 spectacle in Miami
And so the first Grand Prix in Miami ended with some spectacle and a world premiere sequence: Verstappen won ahead of his World Championship rival Leclerc and thus reduced his gap to 19 points with his third win in the fifth race. They were followed by their helpers Sainz and Perez in front of the two Silver Arrows of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. “I think I need a drink,” said the world champion on the radio.
From a German point of view, a drama had played out shortly before the end. Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher collided in the battle for tenth place. In a right-hand bend, Vettel pulled his Aston Martin to the right and crashed into the Haas. Schumacher finished last, Vettel retired. “It’s stupid and bitter for both of us,” said Vettel later: “I’m sorry that we’re both out, I thought I had the curve, when I saw him it was too late.” Schumacher, on the other hand, could have scored the first championship points of his career with this result. The race stewards announced investigations to clarify the question of guilt.
Vettel’s drama began even before the race. That moment when the apparently very emotional bard Luis Fonsi (perhaps known to some for the song “Despacito”) sang his very personal version of The Star-Spangled Banner, the American national anthem, on the starting grid. Fonsi sang, and at that moment Aston Martin got the message that there were problems with the fuel. This had cooled down further than the regulations allow. Anyway, it was too cold. Both cars, including his teammate Lance Stroll, had to start from the pit lane.
In qualifying on Saturday, the two Ferrari drivers benefited from a driving error by Verstappen in the last attempt, and so Leclerc and Sainz formed on the first all-red row of the grid since the race in Mexico 2019. The Dutchman had the second practice session on due to technical problems missed Friday. From his point of view, he therefore lacked important learning time to study the new route. And that’s why, according to Verstappen’s logic, which he publicly announced before the start, he missed pole position.
The traffic lights went out in Miami (world premiere!) and Sainz immediately let Verstappen make it with him. He didn’t even start badly, but the Dutchman irresistibly passed on the inside in the first corner. And the Ferraris had lost their tactical advantage. The two Mercedes came out of the starting blocks even worse, Hamilton, who had started from sixth place, fell back two places. George Russell, who started the race from 11th, dropped four positions to 15th. In the case of Hamilton, it must be said that he was touched on the left rear wheel by Fernando Alonso, who then secretly pushed past him. “I got hit!” Hamilton radioed. “Yes, but there is no damage,” his race engineer replied.
On the seventh lap, Schumacher managed a maneuver that even amounted to a world premiere across races. He showed a spotless and tenacious overtaking maneuver on Yuki Tsunoda and thus moved up to tenth place for the first time.
It took two turns longer at the front, as Verstappen also proved that it is quite possible to overtake on this track, where so much loose chippings lie outside the ideal line. On the long back straight, which runs along the edge of a canal in which man-sized reptiles are said to live, which is why the marshals are equipped with fishing nets at this point, he sucked himself into the slipstream of Leclerc. He stayed on for a few fast corners, then he started to overtake with pinpoint accuracy at the end of the start and finish straight. The Americans in the surrounding grandstands jumped enthusiastically from their seat shells, after all they were just experiencing a world premiere: for the first time a World Championship runner-up had overtaken a World Championship leader on the track in Miami.
The winner in Florida: Max Verstappen had to recover briefly after the end of the race.
(Photo: Jared C Tilton/AFP)
Ultimately, thanks to a courageous start and the superiority of his engine, Verstappen managed to get past both Ferraris fairly quickly. And his strength also kept him at the top when he even made a small mistake shortly afterwards.
And Vettel? He plowed through the field side-by-side with his team-mate and put in a couple of notable performances along the way. First he passed Nicholas Latifi on the inside, then he also grabbed Kevin Magnussen in the Haas. Starting from the back, Vettel was now 13th.
“We’re switching to plan D,” radioed Ferrari. “The car is so incredibly difficult to drive,” Leclerc replied shortly afterwards. To remedy the situation, he drove into the pits after 24 laps as the first driver in the leading group and had fresh tires screwed on. Not immediately, but only two turns later, Verstappen rolled to his garage. Returning to the track, he continued to enjoy a comfortable seven-second gap over Leclerc. Her two adjutants were also called to the supply lane. But although it took Sainz 5.4 seconds, which felt like an eternity, the duel between the little helpers stayed the same. The Spaniard remained third, with Sergio Perez behind.
The race now reached a level of excitement, at least at the top, where one or the other spectator wished for a safety car. Or a tiny tropical shower?
Interesting movement was reported on the rain radar at the Aston Martin command post. Red Bulls team boss Christian Horner also looked up at the sky with excitement. Was there anything else? In any case, he wouldn’t stop for a set of fresh tires, Russell replied when asked to do so. “Let’s wait for a safety car instead.” And how his plan worked! Ultimately, it was this decision that gave him a fresh set of tires after Lando Norris crashed. And on this, shortly before the end, he overtook his team-mate Hamilton and finished fifth. “Of course you look like a genius if you end up being right,” Russell later said. And grinned.