The sun was shining in beautiful Miami, but there was no time to soak it in. In addition to being the first of three American races on the calendar, the FORMULA 1 CRYPTO.COM MIAMI GRAND PRIX 2024 is also one of the six sprint race weekends, meaning there was plenty of on-track excitement to be had on Saturday.
Charles Leclerc got away well from the front row of the grid, prompting Max Verstappen to cover him off on the inside of the first corner. Further back, Sergio Perez got away poorly in the second Red Bull, finding himself shuffled out in the first few corners, losing the position to Daniel Ricciardo.
While the two Aston Martin drivers were fighting into the first corner, Lewis Hamilton saw a gap and dove up the inside from a long way back. He failed to take the corner tight enough, bumping into the side of Fernando Alonso. This caused a chain reaction that caught out Lando Norris on the outside. Norris spun and became stranded, necessitating the safety car. Alonso suffered a puncture while Lance Stroll retired to the garage. The stewards decided that no further investigation was required.
When the race resumed, Verstappen timed it perfectly to create a huge gap at the restart. This reduced the work required to pull outside of DRS range to Carlos Sainz by the end of the first lap, practically securing his sprint victory.
But Kevin Magnussen stole the show with his trademark aggressive defence against Hamilton throughout the race while fighting over the final point-scoring position. Early in the battle, Magnussen cut across the turn 14 chicane, eventually earning himself a 10-second penalty. This didn’t stop him from keeping his elbows out to keep the Mercedes behind.
Hamilton’s first attempt came on the run down to turn 11 on lap 11 with DRS. Hamilton was by Magnussen, but the Haas driver was extremely late on the brakes to put himself wheel-to-wheel with the Mercedes in turn 12. The two bumped slightly through the corner.
Being all over the gearbox of the Haas, Hamilton tried again to get by around the outside of turn 11. Magnussen again braked late, running the duo off the outside of the corner. This allowed Yuki Tsunoda to sneak by Hamilton and eventually by Magnussen. He was given another 10-second penalty to his collection for corner-cutting. He fell behind Hamilton a lap later and was given another 10-second penalty, bringing his total up to 30 seconds.
Hamilton was able to chase down Tsunoda in the closing laps and retake P8 on the final lap. But it was all in vain, as he was awarded a drive-through penalty after the race for speeding in the pitlane under the safety car. His penalty was converted to a 20-second time penalty, dropping him well down the field.
At the front of the field, Max Verstappen collected another race victory for his ever-growing collection. Charles Leclerc finished second alongside Sergio Perez. Despite a valiant effort from Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo secured P4, earning his first points of the season.
The action in Miami isn’t over just yet. The drivers will be back on track tomorrow for the main race on Sunday afternoon.
