Verstappen wins the 2023 Miami GP from P9 to equal Red Bull's win record

Verstappen won the fourth consecutive race in the United States and blitzed the field once more. The 25-year-old was in a league of his own, and the aggressive strategy worked well. He now has 38 wins in his F1 career, the same amount recorded by four-time World Champion Vettel during his time at Red Bull. 

George Russell proved Mercedes had really strong race pace at the Miami International Autodrome. Due to Hamilton's poorer result in qualifying, Mercedes swapped their drivers over when the seven-time World Championship found himself ahead relative to pit stops. Hamilton also had strong race pace and made gains from his starting position to finish in 6th. This is in contrast to Ferrari, especially Charles Leclerc who had to battle hard with the Ferrari customer team Haas at one stage. In the end, Leclerc made a bit of a comeback but couldn't defend Hamilton, who made a brilliant move on the man from Monaco for P6. 

Sainz couldn't combat the race pace shown by Mercedes and Aston Martin, and the Spaniard made an error when coming into the pits. He was speeding in the pitlane and picked up a five-second penalty. Though it could've been worse, and it was for McLaren who had a very quiet weekend following suggestions of improvement in Baku. Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly held on to their good qualifying results by scoring points. Logan Sargeant's debut at home resulted in a P20 finish. 

CLASSIFICATION (LAP 57/57)

How we crossed the line in Miami Gardens #MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/vdEBuVIH3h

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2023

Mixed up grid

In arguably the most mixed-up grid in recent Formula 1 history following a traditional dry qualifying session, Perez started from pole alongside Fernando Alonso. Carlos Sainz rounded out the top three, and Kevin Magnussen threw in a surprise by claiming a spot on the second row. Verstappen had to walk all the way back to P9 due to a mistake in run one of Q3, and then the session ended early due to Leclerc's crash. The Ferrari driver started from seventh, behind George Russell and Pierre Gasly. The top seven opted for medium tyres, with Ocon and Verstappen the only two in the top ten to try hard tyres from the start. 

Magnussen dropped three places on the opening lap as the front runners all got away smoothly. Perez opened up a 1.2-second lead after one lap around the stadium in Miami. Nyck de Vries and Lando Norris had a small coming together at the first corner. In his first home race of the season, Logan Sargeant had some front-wing trouble that needed changing on lap three. 

Verstappen made a double overtake on Leclerc and Magnussen as they crossed the start/finish line on lap four to put the Dutchman in sixth as Hamilton reported issues with his Mercedes car. Verstappen breached the top four by lap ten, and Alonso's prediction started to look likely. Sainz couldn't defend against Red Bull's straight-line speed, so Verstappen had no trouble making the overtake work. On the next lap, it was Alonso's turn, and Verstappen found himself in P2. Three seconds behind his teammate. 

Into the pits

Sainz attacked Alonso for a few laps but couldn't find a way through. Instead, the Ferrari driver pitted on lap 19 and came out in front of the traffic to attempt an undercut. Sainz was placed under investigation for speeding, for which he picked up a five-second penalty. The undercut worked, but Alonso's six-lap fresher tyres made it worthless. With the gap down to 1.3 seconds at the front, Red Bull pulled in Perez for a set of hard tyres.  

On lap 32, Mercedes reminded Hamilton that Russell was racing against Ocon on fresher tyres. Therefore, he was ordered to move out of the way to let his younger teammate through.

On lap 45, Red Bull pulled Verstappen into the pits. He returned to the track with a 1.3-second deficit to Perez and fresher softer tyres. Perez managed to defend for about two corners when Verstappen attacked. Verstappen, therefore, regained the lead with nine laps to go.