This weekend, the Formula One teams and drivers were in the sunny state of Florida; more specifically Miami at a brand new street circuit surrounding the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The FORMULA 1 CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2022 was the first of two races in the United States this season.
Charles Leclerc got away well from pole position. Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen both got away relatively equally, but Verstappen was braver on the brakes into the first corner, going around the outside of the Ferrari and moving up to P2.
Further back, it was a clean start to the race. The most dramatic incident on the opening lap was between Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was a little loose on the hard compound tyres in the first few corners and Alonso gave his rear tyre a little tap.
Back at the front, the lead pair began to pull away from the cars behind. On lap 9, Verstappen was right on the back of Leclerc down the main straight. With some help from the DRS, he was able to take the lead of the race from the Ferrari. Leclerc was able to stick with him, but Red Bull had a clear top speed advantage down the straights, preventing Leclerc from making any moves to regain the lead.
On lap 17, fans were treated to a battle of the Canadians, as Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi fought wheel to wheel at the end of the tight second sector. Stroll made a move on the inside of the long right-hander, taking the position from Latifi.
Around quarter distance, drivers began pitting to swap their sets of medium tyres for new hard tyres. Lando Norris made his pit stop on lap 20, but the stop was slower than expected. He rejoined the race between the two Aston Martin cars. He quickly fell prey to Sebastian Vettel and then Kevin Magnussen. In the dirty air behind the cluster of cars, he later ran wide and lost a position to Mick Schumacher as well.
Meanwhile, back near the front, Sergio Perez began complaining of a loss of power. While the team on the pit wall initially reported no issues and attributed his loss of speed to the lack of slipstream from the car ahead, the team eventually found a sensor issue which they corrected.
Charles Leclerc was the first of the leaders to pit from second position. Verstappen responded to the undercut attempt a couple of laps later, coming out just ahead of Perez. The following lap, both Sainz and Perez pitted for tyres. Sainz’s stop was slow due to an issue putting on the front-right tyre. He maintained his position over Perez, largely due to Perez’s previous power issues.
On lap 40, Fernando Alonso was involved in his second incident of the day. He tried to dive up the inside of Pierre Gasly in the first corner, but locked up and made some minor contact with the rear wheel of the AlphaTauri. Gasly came away worse, dropping well down the field. Alonso was awarded a 5 second time penalty for causing a collision.
The following lap, Gasly was struggling with understeer through the curvy first sector. He ran wide in turn 8. Lando Norris made his way by the AlphaTauri, but Gasly rejoined the track and spun the McLaren. Norris’ rear tyre fell apart, stranding him on the circuit. It sounds as though Gasly was using the team radio at the time of the collision. The virtual safety car was deployed, but was eventually upgraded to a full safety car.
The safety car allowed George Russell to make a cheap pit stop while under the VSC, dropping him just behind his teammate.
The race restarted with just 10 laps remaining. Carlos Sainz had a poor restart, allowing Sergio Perez to attack. Perez tried to get the position around the outside of the first corner, but couldn’t get by.
Further behind, the two Mercedes drivers were battling for P6. Russell, on the newer and softer medium tyres, tried going around the outside of his teammate in the hairpin, but Hamilton forced him out wide. Valtteri Bottas get wide in the corner, clipping the concrete barrier on the outside, turning the Mercedes battle into a battle for P5 as both got by. Russell eventually got by Hamilton.
Perez was still on the back of Sainz. With just five laps remaining in the race, he tried a very brave dive up the inside of Sainz in the first corner. The Ferrari nearly turned into him. Perez locked up and ran wide, allowing Sainz to maintain the position.
With only a few laps remaining, Mick Schumacher looked on track to collect his first ever Formula One championship points. While trying to upgrade from P9 to P8, he made a move on the inside of Vettel, but the Aston Martin turned into the corner and the duo collided. Both limped back to the pits with damage.
But all eyes were on battle for the lead of the race. Despite some promising pace by Leclerc, he was never able to get close enough to overtake Verstappen. Verstappen earned his victory at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, while Leclerc had to settle for second position. Carlos Sainz managed to maintain his podium position ahead of Perez and Russell.
F1 will be returning to the United States in the fall for the United States Grand Prix in Texas. But in the meantime, the teams will be heading back to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix on the weekend of May 22.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 26 | |
| 2 | C. Leclerc | 18 | |
| 3 | C. Sainz | 15 | |
| 4 | S. Perez | 12 | |
| 5 | G. Russell | 10 | |
| 6 | L. Hamilton | 8 | |
| 7 | V. Bottas | 6 | |
| 8 | E. Ocon | 4 | |
| 9 | F. Alonso | 2 | |
| 10 | A. Albon | 1 | |
| 11 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 12 | L. Stroll | ||
| 13 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 14 | N. Latifi | ||
| 15 | M. Schumacher | ||
| DNF | S. Vettel | ||
| DNF | P. Gasly | ||
| DNF | L. Norris | ||
| DNF | G. Zhou | ||
