F1 Miami Grand Prix race results: Verstappen beats Leclerc and Sainz

Verstappen, who started third, gained second at the first corner when he drove around the outside of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. He tracked down Leclerc and passed him on lap nine.

Despite a late-race safety car, that put Leclerc back into DRS range, Verstappen pulled away to win by 3.7s.

2022 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Interval	Points
1	Max Verstappen		57	1:34'24.258		26
2	Charles Leclerc		57	1:34'28.044	3.786	18
3	Carlos Sainz		57	1:34'32.487	4.443	15
4	Sergio Perez		57	1:34'34.896	2.409	12
5	George Russell		57	1:34'42.840	7.944	10
6	Lewis Hamilton		57	1:34'45.626	2.786	8
7	Valtteri Bottas		57	1:34'49.331	3.705	6
8	Esteban Ocon		57	1:34'52.644	3.313	4
9	Fernando Alonso		57	1:34'56.386	3.742	2
10	Alex Albon		57	1:34'56.623	0.237	1
11	Daniel Ricciardo		57	1:35'00.160	3.537
12	Lance Stroll		57	1:35'01.284	1.124
13	Yuki Tsunoda		57	1:35'04.404	3.120
14	Nicholas Latifi		57	1:35'14.194	9.790
15	Mick Schumacher		57	1:35'37.563	23.369
16	Kevin Magnussen		56
17	Sebastian Vettel		54
	Pierre Gasly		45
	Lando Norris		39
	Zhou Guanyu		6
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What happened in the Miami Grand Prix?

On a dry track, but with a 40% of rain showers, Leclerc held his pole advantage on the run to Turn 1 ahead of Sainz but Verstappen went around the outside of the Spaniard on the exit of Turn 1 to grab second.

Perez ran fourth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – who lost two places after locking up at the first corner and getting boxed in behind Perez and then biffed by Alonso.

Hamilton got one place back when he passed Alonso at Turn 11 as DRS was enabled, after Alonso had run wide at Turn 5, and he later DRS-ed past Gasly into Turn 1 on lap six to regain sixth.

As soon as he got into DRS range of Leclerc, Verstappen grabbed the lead at Turn 1 on lap nine. Leclerc stayed in DRS reach of Verstappen for a couple of laps but then fell out of it and then lost 1.1s with a front-right lock up into Turn 17 on lap 12.

Perez caught Sainz but then suffered a loss of power that cost him 7s while he changed some settings on his steering wheel.

Leclerc was running 4.5s behind Verstappen when he pitted on lap 25, rejoining in fourth. Verstappen pitted two laps later, after Leclerc set a fastest sector time, and Sainz led for a lap before he too stopped – but his stop was a slow 5.4s due to a sticking right-front wheel.

Verstappen’s lead increased to 7.7s during the pitstop cycle. Sainz was now a distant third, 5s ahead of Perez.

Alonso suffered a slow pitstop, when the right-rear wouldn’t detach, but he then caught Gasly. Alonso hit Gasly at Turn 1 on lap 39, which earned him a five-second penalty.

Gasly, who ran wide at Turn 7 on the following lap, was clipped by Lando Norris, which fired the McLaren into a spin and out of the race, its right-rear tyre flying off as he spun.

That brought out the safety car, with George Russell – who started on hard tyres and hadn’t yet stopped – taking advantage by diving into the Mercedes pits. Perez also pitted for a new set of mediums, but none of the front trio stopped.

The race restarted with Verstappen leading Leclerc, Sainz and the fresh-tyred Perez with 10 laps remaining.

Leclerc stayed in Verstappen’s DRS range, while Bottas ran wide and hit the wall at Turn 17 on lap 50, handing positions to the battling Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell, who swapped places on the following lap.

Perez passed Sainz but ran long at Turn 1 with six laps to go, handing the position back, as Verstappen and Leclerc ran nose-to-tail ahead. With three laps to go, Verstappen escaped Leclerc’s DRS range and sealed his third win of the year.

Sainz managed to fend off Perez’s attacks to finish third, while Russell’s fifth had a lot to do with the timing of the safety car. Hamilton finished sixth, ahead of Bottas, Esteban Ocon, the penalised Alonso and Alex Albon’s Williams.

Mick Schumacher’s Haas rammed into Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin at Turn 1 late on – both Astons having started from the pitlane after they encountered fuel issues before the pit exit closed.

Vettel was forced out, as was Gasly and Norris from accident damage. Zhou Guanyu was the first retirement of the race when his Alfa Romeo broke down.

2022 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	54	1'31.361			213.255
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	53	1'31.488	0.127	0.127	212.959
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	56	1'31.790	0.429	0.302	212.258
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	54	1'31.819	0.458	0.029	212.191
5	George Russell	Mercedes	56	1'32.195	0.834	0.376	211.325
6	Mick Schumacher	Haas	57	1'32.528	1.167	0.333	210.565
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	55	1'32.941	1.580	0.413	209.629
8	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	55	1'33.035	1.674	0.094	209.417
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	56	1'33.163	1.802	0.128	209.130
10	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	56	1'33.184	1.823	0.021	209.083
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	56	1'33.265	1.904	0.081	208.901
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	52	1'33.312	1.951	0.047	208.796
13	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	53	1'33.331	1.970	0.019	208.753
14	Lando Norris	McLaren	37	1'33.411	2.050	0.080	208.575
15	Alex Albon	Williams	57	1'33.447	2.086	0.036	208.494
16	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	50	1'33.479	2.118	0.032	208.423
17	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	52	1'33.511	2.150	0.032	208.351
18	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	53	1'34.169	2.808	0.658	206.896
19	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	38	1'34.487	3.126	0.318	206.199
20	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	4	1'35.731	4.370	1.244	203.520
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2022 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix pitstops

Cla	Driver	Chassis	1		2		3
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	M	26	H	31
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	M	24	H	33
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	M	27	H	30
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	M	27	H	14	M	16
5	George Russell	Mercedes	H	40	M	17
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	M	22	H	35
7	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	M	26	H	31
8	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	H	41	S	16
9	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	M	15	H	43
10	Alex Albon	Williams	M	16	H	41
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	M	30	H	11	S	16
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	H	42	M	19
13	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	M	11	H	30	S	19
14	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	H	34	M	23
15	Mick Schumacher	Haas	M	14	H	40	M	3
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	M	12	H	30	M	14
17	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	H	43	M	15
	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	M	16	H	24	S	8
	Lando Norris	McLaren	M	18	H	21
	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	M	6
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