Max Verstappen secured his third win of the season after overtaking pole-sitter Charles Leclerc to win the first ever Miami Grand Prix.
The reigning World Champion closed the gap on his title rival to follow up his Emilia Romagna Grand Prix success two weeks ago. The Dutchman has now won all three races he has finished this season.
Leclerc finished second ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, who was back on the podium after a poor spell of form at the previous two races.
On a grid packed to bursting point with the celebrity glitterati, it was not easy to spot at first but it emerged neither Aston Martin car was in the P10 (Lance Stroll) and P13 (Sebastian Vettel) spots in which they had qualified.
It transpired both AMR22s had a problem with the fuel being cooler than regulations allow, so to avoid any potential penalty they opted to start from the pit lane.
At the sharp end, Ferrari had secured their first front row lockout since Mexico 2019 but their hopes of holding those positions throughout the opening lap were thwarted by a flying start from Verstappen, who squeezed past Sainz in the opening series of corners.
Fernando Alonso was the big early mover, making up four places to seventh to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who dropped two as the pair banged wheels – but there was worse for his Mercedes team-mate Russell, who slipped back three positions to 15th.
Hamilton and Alonso going head-to-head. Then. Now. Forever. 😃#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/zOdoprRVZJ
— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) May 8, 2022
Hamilton was soon back ahead of the Spaniard but feared he had damage from the collision with Alonso as he challenged Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri for P6, which he grabbed on lap six.
Zhou Guanyu had just passed Daniel Ricciardo for 13th when he was called into the pits to retire his Alfa Romeo on lap seven, becoming the race’s first casualty. “I can’t believe it,” said the crestfallen Chinese driver over the team radio.
Up front, the two title…
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