Max Verstappen won the sprint race of the F1 Miami Grand Prix to establish himself as the leader of the championship.
MIAMI.- Max Verstappen won his second sprint race of the year by winning the Miami Grand Prix, where he beat Charles Leclerc and his Red Bull teammate Sergio 'Seco' Perez.
RB's Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, McLaren's Oscar Piastre, Haas' Nico Hulkenberg and RB's Yuki Tsunoda were the other drivers to collect points.
Mexican Checo Perez still has 6 points on his account, which currently puts him on 91 units compared to 118 for Verstappen and 83 for Leclerc.
It was a complicated start for Szeko, where Ricciardo passed him, it took five laps to pass him after the SC, and then he didn't have enough time to get past Leclerc.
As at home, Perez received a huge reception from the stadium in interviews at the stadium and at the awards ceremony with special guest Zinedine Zidane.
Your #F1Sprint Scorers! 📈
Max takes Charles and Cheko home as the Miami weekend takes another step forward#F1 #MiamiGB pic.twitter.com/p3sxLqQJjR
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 4, 2024
The beginning was chaotic. A scrum between Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris claimed two lives in the first corner, where the last two had to drop immediately. Running in last position after having to go into the pits, the Spaniard wouldn't make it a lap from last.
A racing event caused by funnels formed when four objects want to occupy a space where only two can cross. The 'most innocent' of the four was Norris' McLaren, ahead of the trio, who touched down as the end of the chain reaction.
A yellow flag and safety car appear for three laps and almost everyone visits the pits for fresh socks, except for Yuki Tsunoda and Logan Sargent, who opted for softer tyres.
The fourth lap restart was very careful on everyone's part. Sego Perez, closest to Daniel Ricciardo, surprised Mexican Charles Leclerc as he tried to attack him for second. Perez returned to the top 3 at the expense of Australian Ricciardo and turned his attention to Leclerc in pursuit of second place with 14 laps to go.
Checo Perez could not match the race pace of Verstappen and Leclerc, who was one minute 31 seconds and 1 tenth 5 tenths slower.
Leader Verstappen started to show grip problems and it was noticeable as he couldn't separate himself.
With three laps to go, Czecho was 1.6 seconds behind Leclerc, but it was too late as he had no time to catch the Monegasque.
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