Max Verstappen showcased both his and Red Bull’s dominance as he effortlessly won the Miami Grand Prix ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Despite starting ninth on the grid and on the hard tyre, Verstappen roared through the field during the opening stages and found himself in second place before the first and only round of pit-stops.
With Perez pitting earlier having started on the medium tyre, championship leader Verstappen led much of the race and was able to build the gap back to Perez.
A slightly slower stop on lap 45 meant that the reigning champion came out of the pits just over a second behind his teammate, but Perez was defenceless against the searing pace of Verstappen and was passed by the Dutchman just two laps later.
The two Red Bulls stayed in formation until the chequered flag and finished ahead of Fernando Alonso in third who claimed his fourth podium in five races to begin the 2023 season.
George Russell finished fourth for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz whose early promise tailed off after his switch to the hard compound tyre.
Story of the race:
A frantic opening lap saw the leading trio of polesitter Perez, Alonso and Sainz maintain their order heading into the first corner while Nyck de Vries made minor contact with McLaren’s Lando Norris, relegating the British driver to 19th place.
Verstappen then used the sheer speed advantage of his Red Bull to swiftly move his way through the field, performing a stunning double overtake on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen in the process.
The Dutchman then made light work of both George Russell and Pierre Gasly to move up to fourth place by the end of lap 10.
Carlos Sainz spent much of the opening stint within the one-second DRS zone of his compatriot Alonso but he was unable to mount a serious challenge on the Aston Martin driver.
The Spaniard then found the Red Bull of Verstappen in his rear-view mirror and the reigning champion blasted past the Ferrari on the long straight down to turn 11.
Verstappen then passed Alonso on the following lap to move up to second where he was just three seconds behind his teammate in the lead.
Unable to pass Alonso on track, Sainz’s attempt to undercut his fellow Spaniard paid off, although he was later awarded a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.
Alonso, now on fresher tyres, then piled the pressure on the Ferrari driver and was able to get back past on lap 27.
Race leader Perez made his pit-stop at the end of lap 20 to switch to the hard tyre but failed to make any inroads into Verstappen’s assumed lead and saw his chances of victory diminish lap by lap.
The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Russell, quiet up until now, found themselves in sixth and seventh at half distance and with the former yet to make his mandatory stop, Hamilton let his teammate past at turn 12.
Russell had much improved pace on the hard tyre following his stop and he cruised up to the back of Sainz before passing the Spaniard under braking into turn 11.
Verstappen finally pitted on lap 45 and although he came out behind his teammate Perez, the Dutchman dispatched the Mexican driver into the first turn in what was ultimately the race winning move.
Further down the field, Lewis Hamilton showed excellent pace on the medium tyre in the latter stages of the race as he eventually finished sixth having started 13th.
Hamilton pulled off a daring overtake on Charles Leclerc four laps from the finish as Mercedes once again showed their Sunday pace was significantly better than their one-lap pace on a Saturday.
The afore-mentioned Leclerc struggled for pace for much of the race and wasn’t able to climb through the pack and the Monegasque driver eventually finished a disappointing seventh.
The two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished ahead of Kevin Magnussen to round off the minor points paying positions in what was a much better weekend for the Enstone outfit.
The results of the race mean that Max Verstappen extends his championship lead ahead of Formula One’s return in Imola in a fortnights’ time.