Just like last week, it was another Red Bull 1-2 snoozefest in Formula One with the drivers reversed and Max Verstappen winning the 2023 Miami Grand Prix with Sergio Perez in second while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished a distant and non-competitive third to close out the podium.
Perez sat on pole position and looked poised to win the race with Verstappen mired in the ninth position after botching his qualifying session. But even though Perez led the first 20 laps of the race with no pressure from any other racer, Verstappen was easily picking his way through the seven slower cars between them and took over the lead when Perez made his only pit stop on Lap 20.
Verstappen then led the next 25 laps until he finally had to make a pit stop and Perez briefly took over the lead for three laps before Verstappen passed him on fresher, medium tires [to Perez’s hard tires] and won comfortably.
There were no changes in the top four racers for the race’s first 10 laps and no changes in the top three drivers for the first 14 laps and a Red Bull led every lap of the race as Perez and Verstappen switched off the lead.
With the victory, Verstappen pads his 2023 Formula 1 driver’s standings lead to 14 points – with 119 points to Perez’s 105 points – while Alonso is a distant third with 75 points followed by Mercedes’ seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton with 56 points in fourth, then Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Jr. in fifth with 44 points, Mercedes’ George Russell with 40 points and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with 34 points.
2023 Miami Grand Prix Top Seven Finishers
1] Max Verstappen – Red Bull
2] Sergio Perez – Red Bull
3] Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
4] George Russell – Mercedes
5] Carlos Sainz, Jr. – Ferrari
6] Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
7] Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
