A star-studded Miami Grand Prix weekend saw some shining performances across Friday to Sunday, but a few less than stellar drives too.
Max Verstappen made his recovery from ninth on the grid look easy, even passing pole winning team mate Sergio Perez in the process. But was the championship leader’s performance the most impressive of the field over the weekend?
Here are the RaceFans driver ratings for the Miami Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen – 7/10
Qualified: 9th (-8 places behind team mate, -0.514s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (H-M)
Finished: Winner (+1 place ahead of team mate)
- Ahead of team mate in every timed session before Q3
- Fastest of all in final two practice sessions and first two phases of qualifying
- Abandoned first Q3 lap after error, then never got to attempt final run due to red flag, leaving him ninth on the grid
- Started on hards, then lost a place off the line to Bottas but overtook Ocon on the opening lap to return to ninth
- Overtook Bottas, then Magnussen and Leclerc in one corner, then Russell, Gasly, Sainz and Alonso to take second by lap 15
- Took the lead after team mate pitted for hards but began to pull out his lead despite being on old tyres
- Pitted for hards on lap 45, then immediately pressured Perez for the lead before passing him around outside of turn one
- Cruised through the remaining laps to win by five seconds
For the first three practice sessions and two segments of qualifying, Max Verstappen looked like he was in complete control of the Miami Grand Prix weekend. Then a simple error on his first Q3 run left him vulnerable and fate doomed him to start down in ninth. His comeback was as impressive as it was unsurprising. He didn’t have to pull out his best passing moves to climb the field, but his pass for the lead was a good, aggressive manoeuvre. He must be docked a mark however for his Q3 error costing him.
Sergio Perez – 5/10
Qualified: Pole (+8 places ahead of team mate, +0.514s)
Start: Held position
Strategy: One-stop (M-H)
Finished: 2nd (-1 place behind team mate)
- Behind team mate in every timed session before Q3
- Sat on provisional pole by three tenths after first Q3 run, then confirmed on pole after Leclerc’s crash ended session
- Held the lead at the start, maintaining modest gap out front until pitting for hard tyres
- Rejoined in fourth and immediately passed Ocon
- Slowly reduced gap to Verstappen before falling further behind, only just regaining the lead when Verstappen…
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