MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Max Verstappen used an aggressive early pass on Formula One championship leader Charles Leclerc and then controlled the inaugural Miami Grand Prix for his third win of the season.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Max Verstappen used an aggressive early pass on Formula One championship leader Charles Leclerc and then controlled the inaugural Miami Grand Prix for his third win of the season.
The reigning world champion started third on Sunday, but Red Bull quickly overtook Ferrari for the second race in a row. Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. had blocked the front row in qualifying for Ferrari, but Verstappen pounced at the start to get ahead of Sainz.
He then set his sights on Leclerc and used a strong outside pass on lap nine to claim the lead. Verstappen was not challenged until a late crash between Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly brought out the safety car and set up a 10-lap sprint to the finish on the 19-turn, 3.36-mile (5.41-kilometre) circuit built around the Hard Rock Stadium.
Leclerc got a few looks inside but Verstappen didn’t budge and the Dutchman won by 3.7sec. He too won two weeks ago at Imola when Red Bull took advantage of a poor Ferrari weekend on Italian soil with a 1-2 result for Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
In Miami, Ferrari settled for second and third for Leclerc and Sainz. Pérez was fourth for Red Bull and Mercedes showed great improvement with fifth and sixth places for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. It is the fourth time in five races that Mercedes first-year driver Russell has beaten the seven-time champion.
Montreal’s Lance Stroll was 12th and Toronto’s Nicholas Latifi was 14th.
The race itself wasn’t as exciting as the 85,000 in attendance expected Sunday when they snagged one of the hottest tickets in sports. Promoters never had a general ticket sale due to overwhelming initial demand and the campus surrounding Hard Rock Stadium was the party spot for the last three days.
Whether it’s the man-made beach club where musical acts have performed since Friday or the “marina” that docked 10 boats in plywood covered with a decal to look like ripples on the water, F1 got the sun, the sand and Miami backdrop he wanted when he agreed to this 10-year deal.
When the day of the race arrived, the celebrities came out in full force. Dwyane Wade took selfies on the starting grid and Paris Hilton danced in front of the McLaren garage; Tom Brady, David Beckham and Michael Jordan posed for a pre-race photo with Lewis Hamilton, who was hosting former first lady Michelle Obama at the track on Saturday. Serena Williams took advantage of Mercedes’ hospitality and Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny arrived at the venue with Pérez, spending most of the pre-race time at Red Bull with the Mexican driver.
The Miami event gives the US two F1 races in one season for the first time since 1984. F1 will add Las Vegas as a third American race in 2023.
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Jenna Fryer, Associated Press
Reference-www.coastreporter.net