Red Bull Racing’s defending world champion, Max Verstappen secured the inaugural Miami Grand Prix as he looked to comfortably lead the race over his championship rival, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

How the race unfolded…

All cars opted to start the race on the medium, yellow-ringed, compound tyres as the race looked to be a two-stop race. It was predicted the cars would change between the mediums and white-ringed, hard compounds.

It was a great reaction from both Ferraris as the two drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz led into turn one respectively. However, Verstappen managed to squeeze himself past Sainz into turn two and remained there for the remainder of the lap.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton fell down to eighth place – two places down from where he started, behind Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. It was reported Alonso had made contact with Hamilton at the start of the race which was later found to be true. On lap three, Hamilton was able to regain one place as he overtook his former teammate in the first DRS (drag reduction system) zone.

On lap seven, Guanyu Zhou became the race’s first retiree as he was told to return to the pit lane and retire.

On the exit of turn 17, at the end of lap eight, Verstappen got a fantastic exit to remain in the gearbox of Leclerc. As the Dutchman followed closely throughout the final corners of the lap, with assistance from the DRS, Verstappen secured the inside line into turn one and gained the lead of the race.

Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda became the race’s first driver to pit for a fresh set of tyres as he popped into the pit lane on lap 12. The Japanese driver swapped his medium tyres for the hard compound tyres.

Five laps later, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel made an incredible move on Williams’ Nicholas Latifi. On the slower, technical section of turns 11 to 13, Vettel managed to squeeze his AMR22 down the inside kerb of turn 12 and pipped ahead of the Canadian. However, both drivers remained fairly clear of the point-awarding positions.

On lap 20, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez complained over his respective team radio about a lack of power. However, the technical problem – a failed sensor – was only temporary as his pit wall helped him find a solution.

Out of the front runners, Leclerc became the first driver to pit at the end of lap 24 to swap his mediums for the hard tyres. However, Verstappen a four second gap by the time the Monegasque pitted. Despite the large gap of which the Red Bull #1 could’ve comfortably pitted, Verstappen remained out track for an additional lap and pitted at the end of lap 26.

When he returned to the Miami circuit, the Dutchman only dropped to second-place, behind Sainz, and ahead of his teammate, Perez.

Alonso and Gasly made contact, on lap 40, as the French Alpha Tauri driver turned into the first corner and made contact with the two-time world champion, spicing up a well-behaved race. Later on, Alonso was given a five-second time penalty for the incident.

A lap later, McLaren’s Lando Norris made contact with Gasly. The Frenchman went wide into turn seven and didn’t see the Briton come up on the inside. The following contact ripped the tyre from Norris’ car. As a result, the Virtual Safety Car was briefly deployed before it was upgraded to a full safety car.

During the VSC, Russell finally made his first pit stop, on lap 41, while Hamilton remained out on track with worn hard tyres.

After race control allowed the lapped cars to unlap themselves, the safety car finally peeled back into the pitlane at the end of lap 46. On the exit of turn 17, Verstappen bolted after he controlled the speed and managed to maintain the lead of the race into the first corner. However, further back, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was noted for causing a collision.

A lap later, race control upgraded the incident between Magnussen and Stroll to an investigation. No further action was deemed necessary.

At the end of lap 49, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas made a mistake and clipped the concrete barrier on the exit of turn 17. This allowed both Mercedes, Hamilton and Russell respectively, to easily pass the Finnish driver.

On the following lap, Russell went wide into turn 11 – as he got briefly ahead of Hamilton – and handed the position back to his teammate before he completed the move shortly after, in the same corner he yielded. Soon after, Russell had moved behind the seven-time world champion to avoid a potential penalty but the young Briton passed his illustrious teammate shortly after, once again.

Podium:

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

That’s it for the article: F1 Miami Grand Prix: Max Verstappen secures inaugural Florida race! What do you think, did the Miami race live up to its hype? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula One here!

• F1 Miami Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc takes inaugural pole position
• F1 Miami Grand Prix: Mercedes George Russell leads second practice
• F1 Miami Grand Prix: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc tops inaugural practice
• Will Mercedes bring upgrades to Miami GP?

To keep up to date with the latest news from Apex Motorsports, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.