MOTORSPORT: Verstappen parties in Miami

Aggressive driving and a top-speed advantage allowed Max Verstappen to break Ferrari’s Formula 1 stranglehold at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix early this morning.

The red cars locked out the front row in qualifying but the reigning F1 champion jumped Carlos Sainz at the start and then motored past Charles Leclerc after seven laps to continue the defence of his world title after winning at Imola two weeks ago.

There was late excitement after McLaren’s Lando Norris tangled with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly to trigger a Safety Car intervention, as Leclerc got back past Verstappen for a few metres and Red Bull wing man Sergio Perez tried hard to get onto the podium after losing power in the middle of the race.

But, at the end of a torrid tussle in front of a heaving party crowd of more than 500,000 people, the first US GP of 2022 – there will be another later in the year at Austin, Texas – finished with Verstappen ahead of points leader Leclerc and Sainz.

“I think I need a drink,” Verstappen joked at the finish.

F1 interviewer Willy T Ribbs, a breakthrough black racer in American motorsport, suggests the race was like a heavyweight boxing battle.

“It felt a little bit like that out there today,” Verstappen replied.

“It was an incredible grand prix. I think we kept it exciting until the end.”

carsales ambassador Daniel Ricciardo took another round of heavy punches in his McLaren and failed again to score a point. He was hit with a post-race penalty that cost him an extra two spots, but at least 13th place was better than the non-finish for Norris.

Contact on the hot and slippery Miami street circuit also saw the retirements of Kevin Magnussen of Haas, Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin – who was punted by Mick Schumacher in his Haas – and Gasly, while Zhou Guanyu dropped out early with mechanical failure in his Aston Martin.

Leclerc, who also conceded a point for the fastest lap to Verstappen, has seen his early championship lead more than halved as Red Bull has overcome early-season reliability problems and tuned their car for maximum race pace.

“I thought I could get Max at one point today but they had an advantage on pace,” the Monaco driver conceded.

But he gives some hope for Ferrari fans with the promise of a car upgrade for the next race in Spain.

“We need to keep pushing. I hope now we can do a step up from the next race forwards,” said Leclerc.

Third was a good comeback for Sainz who crashed – again – during practice.

“Obviously, after the crash from Friday I still had some neck pain. At the end it was hard to keep Perez behind,” said the Spaniard.

“It wasn’t easy at all. It’s been a tough race. In the end I think we got what we deserved. I wanted more but it’s not bad.”

Lewis Hamilton was never a factor in Miami and eventually finished behind his Mercedes-AMG teammate George Russell in sixth.

“Nice recovery today,” said Russell.

The F1 world championship continues with the Spanish GP at Barcelona on May 22.

2022 Miami Grand Prix results:

2022 Fw championship standings:

1. Leclerc, 104 points; 2. Verstappen, 85; 3. Perez, 66; 4. Russell, 59; 5. Sainz, 53; 6. Hamilton, 36; 8. Bottas, 30; 9. Ocon 24; 10. Magnussen, 15.

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