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Tyres NorthamptonAfter fending off a late charge from Charles Leclerc at the Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen took a second consecutive race win to make it three 2022 victories. Verstappen's route to the top step came from hard work in the early laps to surge past both Ferraris before a safety car in the dying stages threatened to undo his efforts. The result sees the reigning champion close in on P1 in the standings, with the gap to championship leader Leclerc reduced to 19 points.
For all the pomp and ceremony surrounding Miami's addition to the calendar, the race took a long time to come anywhere near matching its pre-race hype. Nevertheless, close racing between Red Bull and Ferrari bookended the Grand Prix to give the capacity crowd something to enjoy. Verstappen started the Red Bull vs Ferrari fight from the off when his quick start from P3 had him side-by-side with Carlos Sainz on the short run into Turn 1. The Dutchman held his nerve to jump up to second place, leaving teammate Sergio Perez to lock onto the final podium position Sainz occupied.
To the back of the grid were a host of drivers hoping for street circuit chaos later on. George Russell, Esteban Ocon, Nicholas Latifi, and both Aston Martins started the race on the less-favoured Pirelli hard tyre, which had been slow to get up to temperature over the weekend. With all other cars equipped with the Pirelli mediums, they would be able to run much longer into the race distance.
A relatively short pit straight saw its fair share of overtaking action, but the most crucial came at the start of Lap 9 after Leclerc made a mistake into the final hairpin allowing Verstappen to catch him. The Dutchman needed no further invitation and closed up and took the inside line for Turn 1 from Leclerc. With Leclerc already struggling on his medium compound Pirelli tyres, he didn't – or couldn't – fight the move, and Verstappen took the lead.
With one side of the Red Bull garage celebrating, there were worried faces on the other. Sergio Perez firmly shot down a radio suggestion that his lack of pace was thanks to dropping out of DRS range of Sainz ahead. After some stern words, his team helped resolve a sensor failure, but the Mexican lost almost seven seconds thanks to the miscommunication.
The race entered a lull in the pit stop phase, with no position gains or losses at the front. If not for the earlier mechanical issue, Perez might've emerged in front of Sainz after the Ferrari driver's front right hard compound Pirelli struggled to go on, but the Spaniard retained third place. DRS trains formed throughout the field with the grid running on hard tyres, unable to close in on those ahead.
After hitting Fernando Alonso at the first corner, Pierre Gasly brought some much-needed drama to the race, damaging his suspension and struggling to keep his AlphaTauri on the road. However, as the Frenchman politely tried to keep out of the way of those passing him, he wasn't aware of a Lando Norris overtake on his left-hand side. Unfortunately for the McLaren driver, Gasly clipped his rear left, sending Norris into a spin and out of the race. The safety car followed a brief virtual safety car period, and the field closed up once more.
The primary benefactors of the collision were Russell and Ocon, both yet to pit from their race-starting hard Pirellis. The pair were sitting in points-paying positions and used the 'cheap' stop to return to the race still in the top ten and on fresh yellow-walled mediums. With nothing to lose, Perez also pitted from P4 for new Pirelli mediums, hoping he could use the extra grip to find a way past Sainz.
Now, with Leclerc right on the back on Verstappen when the safety car returned to the pits, it was edge-of-your-seat viewing between the two championship hopefuls. Leclerc pushed Verstappen lap after lap with DRS, but the top speed deficit of his Ferrari F1-75 and intelligent positioning from Verstappen meant Leclerc could not get by. It was a similar story behind the leading pair, where Perez could not find a way past Sainz for P3 no matter how much he probed despite having a power and grip advantage.
While Sainz couldn't take advantage of the Pirelli mediums, Russell could. The young Mercedes driver continued to frustrate his new teammate Lewis Hamilton this year and twice overtook him with DRS; the first attempt finished off-track, meaning he had to return the sixth place. Then, with Valtteri Bottas making a mistake on his older tyres at the last hairpin, Mercedes again took P5 and P6 against all odds to take the best-of-the-rest award.
Leclerc eventually used the remaining life of his Pirellis up to settle in for a second-place finish behind his title rival. Verstappen's win means the Red Bull driver has won every race he has seen the chequered flag this season. F1 now heads to the site of Max's first victory, Barcelona, for the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks – a worrying omen for anyone hoping to take his crown.
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