Max Verstappen has claimed victory of the Miami Grand Prix Sprint race on Saturday, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in a close second place.
At the start, Fernando Alonso drove into teammate Lance Stroll into turn 1, as the Canadian tightly turned while Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton pushed through the inside. The Spanish driver blamed the 7-time World Champion.
As a result of the incident, Lando Norris was taken out. The McLaren was crashed by Stroll, and he was unable to continue the race. The Canadian also retired later on.
The Sprint was green-flagged once again on lap 4, with Max Verstappen leading, chased by Charles Leclerc.
Pierre Gasly was doing well halfway through the sprint, as he was sitting P11 despite Alpine not bringing updates for the weekend. His teammate, Esteban Ocon, didn’t have the same luck, as he was sitting in P17, ahead of incident-striken Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton then made up places and tried to overtake Kevin Magnussen by lap 11. Both touched, although it wasn’t serious.
Then again – the Mercedes driver tried to overtake the Haas through turn 12, but Magnussen turned wide and forced himself and the number 44 out of the track.
He was then penalized 10 seconds, on top of another 10-second time-penalty for leaving the track and gaining and advantage, and then, Hamilton was placed under investigation for speeding on the pit lane in an earlier stage of the race.
At the front, Verstappen complained to his GP about low grip, as Leclerc tried to close in on him, but to no avail – the Red Bull was still strong despite the struggles.
In the end, the race ended with victory for the current World Champion, with the Monegasque behind him and Sergio Perez in third.
A commendable result for Daniel Ricciardo, who achieved 4th place – his best finish of the season so far.