Max Verstappen becomes the first winner in the history of the Miami GP, ahead of Leclerc and the Spaniard from Ferrari. Alonso finished 8th but two penalties sent him out of the points zone
The first edition of the Formula 1 Miami GP already has a winner: Max Verstappen. The current World Champion continues to show absolute effectiveness, having completed three races and won all three. The Dutchman overtook Charles Leclerc, who was unable to hold him in the first meters, and Carlos Sainz, who resisted Sergio Pérez in the chaotic final laps. The man from Madrid, who came out of two retirements and an accident on Friday, closed the small dimple he passed through in this way.
Fernando Alonso was a positive protagonist in the beginning. Without Lance Stroll in the lead, as he had to start from the pit lane due to a breakdown, the Spaniard took four positions: he started 11th and finished 7th, but not without some controversy. Along the way he encountered Lewis Hamilton himself, whom he touched on the left rear wheel, and while there was no reason to regret abandoning one of them, he feared the worst. Given the precedents, especially in the case of the Alpine, it wasn’t helpful to force situations like this. Although Hamilton then retook the position with Alonso and started his race, he made it clear that the two old rivals still want to show their teeth.
Carlos Sainz didn’t have such a good start. He could have been first, or at least have endured Verstappen in the first few meters, but far from it. The Madrid man gave in to the Dutchman, who then took advantage of the wear on the tires of the ‘poleman’ Leclerc (who tried to escape in the early laps) to gain the position. Knowing how to wait gave him income as he was then able to face the rest of the race as the benchmark and maximum favorite for the win.
While Carlos Sainz tried to fight for third place with Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso tried to score some valuable points that would end the drought. He tried first on the track and then in the pits, but the hint of an undercut stayed with the left rear wheel as he made a very bad stop.
The siege between the Spaniard and Pierre Gasly lasted until the last third of the race, when the Spaniard decided to attack. He threw the car into the first corner in an overly aggressive manner and touched the AlphaTauri. The Spaniard won the position, but was also penalized with 5 seconds. On the way, Gasly also backed up with the car lightly touched in the direction and collided with a Lando Norris that hit the wall.
The safety car until the pieces of the McLaren were removed negated the differences between them all and let several competitors into the pits to try a final attack with better tires. The riders played it with soft tires, but others, like Sergio Pérez, used medium tires. The Mexican became the first enemy, not only of Carlos Sainz, who saw his third place under control, but even Charles Leclerc’s 2nd place.
But the excess of aggressiveness cost him dearly. Pérez threw the car at Sainz, who slid away and watched the Mexican go long. Enough that the puncture on the tire deprived him of that extra performance for the final laps, with which the Madrid native managed to hold on to last third place after winner Max Verstappen and World Cup leader Charles Leclerc.
Fernando Alonso crossed the finish line in 8th place, but was initially 9th… and then 11th. The 5-second penalty for the collision with Gasly allowed him to hold on to two points initially, but the stewards confirmed he had gained an advantage by leaving the track, so they gave him another 5, so that he not only lost 9th but also 10th position with Alex Albon and Lance Stroll. His joy in a well.
Carlos Sainz was more or less satisfied after his return to the podium. The Madrid man was lucky for the race he played in, although he was still very much alive in the aftermath of the blow he received on Friday.
“I feel better after the accident on Friday, I had some pain in my neck during the race, fight with it and master it. Especially at the end, with Checo (Pérez) and his medium band, it was difficult to hold him back, but I managed to stay on the podium, which is a decent result,” the Spaniard explained.
The pain aside, it was a race that “wasn’t easy at all.” “Hard with the tires, with the heat… The car moved, skidded and in the end we got what we wanted, which is an acceptable third place. Now we can move up, summed up one Sainz already thinking about something big… two weeks before the Spanish GP. “I want more, but it’s not bad,” he agreed.
Fernando Alonso, for his part, continues his streak of points after two penalties in a Miami GP in which he was, in his own words, always “on the wrong foot”. It all started with a start where he took several positions, including contact with Lewis Hamilton.
“I had a good start: I took a lot of risks in the first corner, I ran into Hamilton, but we gained quite a few positions there. Then I played with Gasly; I was penalized, I lost those 5 seconds… I had a bad save, I lost another 4 seconds… so I was always on the wrong foot and always on the attack. The truth is the race has been quite active, at least for me where I was,” he summed up.
That contact with Gasly cost him the first of the two penalties he received in this GP, but Alonso thinks it’s fair. “I braked a little too late, blocked and went into him, so I understand the penalty. My mistake. I couldn’t give him back the position because he was already out of the race, so the 5 seconds is fair,” he admitted .
Source: La Verdad
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