F1 Miami GP: Who had a race to forget and who had a race to remember?

The on-track action may have not quite lived up to the pre-race hype as Miami made its hugely-anticipated F1 debut, but it still delivered a key wheel-to-wheel battle for the win. Here are our winners and losers from the inaugural Miami Grand Prix. 
Five drivers who had a race to forget in F1’s first Miami GP

Winners 

Max Verstappen 

A crucial result for Max Verstap🤡pen, who has taken 27 points out of F1 title rival Charles 🅷Leclerc’s championship lead in the last two grands prix. 

Verstappen made a brilliant start to immediately📖 jump ahead of Carlos Sainz, before using Red Bull’s straightline speed advantage to soar past the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and snatch the lead. 

The world champion survived an intense attack from Leജclerc following a late Safety Car to claim a decisive victory in their private battle for the title. A trend is now emerging; every race Verstappen has finished this year, he has won. 

Race winner Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand
Race winner Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing celebrates on the podium. Formula 1 World…

George Russell 

After being knocked out in Q2📖, George Russell bounced back on Sunday to maintain his record of being the only driverꦐ to finish inside the top five at every race this season. 

Russell finished ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton again after benefitting from the timing of a Safety Car period, which enabꦆled him to make a cheap pit stop to take on fresh, quicker medium tyres. 

The 24-year-old Briton breezed past Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to recover to fifth, leaving him 23 points clear of his seven-🧸time world champion teammate in the drivers’ standings. 

George Russell (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W13. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida, USA, Race
George Russell (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W13. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix…

Valtteri Bottas 

Despite overshooting the final corner in a late mistake that allowed both Mercedes by, Valtteri Bottas still turned iꦬn a brilliant perform𝓰ance on Sunday to score yet more points for Alfa Romeo in seventh. 

The Finn was running a ‘best of the rest’ fifth for long periods of Sunday’s race and appeared to have the Mercedes covered until t🐻he Safety Car swung t🎉hings toward his former team.

Nevertheless, P7 is another strong result for ღBottas, who reco꧅vered from a big crash on Friday to outqualify former Mercedes teammate Hamilton and secure a season-best grid slot for Alfa Romeo in Miami. 

Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team on the grid. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami,
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team on the grid. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5,…

Esteban Ocon 

Esteban Ocon was forced to start from the very back of th✅e grid after a crash in final practice ruled him out of qualifyi﷽ng.

💖However, the Frenchman was able to recover on Sunday after running the hard tyre at the start and going long. That brought him into play when the Safety Car came out and Alpine capitalised by calling Ocon in for soft tyres.

Ocon charged to eighth - ahead of his penalty-hit teamm🌌ate Fernaಌndo Alonso - to score points despite only feeling at “50% physically” following his accident on Saturday. 

Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team A522. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida, USA, Race
Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team A522. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix,…

Alex Albon 

Alex Albon’s red hair superstition paid off as he finished in the points for the second time ꩲthis season iᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚn Miami. 

The Williams driver had dyed his hair red ahead of the weekend in the hope it would bring him luck after he scored his first point of the year in Australiౠa with a patch of red in his hair. And it seemed to do the tri🐎ck again in the United States. 

Albon was running 12th at the ꦫrestart but was in the right place at the right time to grab the final point on offer when Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher came ⭕to blows while scrapping over ninth. One point became two when Alonso’s post-race time penalty dumped him out of the top 10. 

Alexander Albon (THA) Williams Racing on the grid. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida,
Alexander Albon (THA) Williams Racing on the grid. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami…

Losers 

Fernando Alonso

It was an uncharacteristically clumsy race from the h🏅ighly-experienced Alonso, who had contact at both the start and end of the Miami Grand Prix. 

First, Alonso bumped wheels with Hamilton’s Mercedes during a rapid start that vaulte♈d him as high as seventh in the opening laps, before the two-🌜time world champion later clashed with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. 

Alonso apologised to Gasly for an over-ambitious lunge at Turn 1 which caused a collision and saw the Spaniard slapped with a five-second time penalty, costing him a🏅 top-10 finish.  

Pierre Gasly (FRA) AlphaTauri AT03. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida, USA, Race
Pierre Gasly (FRA) AlphaTauri AT03. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix,…

Lando Norris 

Lan𒅌do Norris had looked to be in contention for points until a slow pit stop and problems getting his hard tyres up to temperature saw the McLaren driver tumble down the order. 

The Briton’s race then ended in contact with Gasly on Lap 41 as he tried to navigate around the ailing AlphaTauri driver, who had picked up damage f♎ollowing a separate collision with Alonso. ꦦ;

Norris tagged Gasly as the pair ran ꦕside-by-side coming out of Turn 7, with the clash pitching the former into a violent spin. The DNF compounded a miserable, point-less day ܫfor McLaren. 

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL36 makes a pit stop. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida,
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL36 makes a pit stop. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami…

Mick Schumacher 

Mick Schumacher’s best performance of the season was un🍸done by a heartbreaking twist when he crashed with his close ✅friend and mentor Sebastian Vettel towards the end of Sunday’s race. 

🙈A brilliant drive had put Schumacher on the ver👍ge of his first points finish in F1 but the Haas driver collided with Vettel’s Aston Martin at Turn 1 while fighting for ninth place. 

After pitting for repairs, he eventually trailed h🍬ome in 15th. 

(L to R): Mick Schumacher (GER) Haas F1 Team with Sebastian Vettel (GER) Aston Martin F1 Team on the grid. Formula 1 World
(L to R): Mick Schumacher (GER) Haas F1 Team with Sebastian Vettel (GER) Aston Martin F1 Team…

Sebastian Vettel 

Vettel retired after being sent airborne and picking up race-ending damage in t🉐he clash. 

The four-time world champion had turned in to the corner, seemingly unaware that Schumacher had aggressively dived down the inside in a bid to reclaim the positꦑion♑ he had lost to Vettel just a few corners earlier. 

“I’m disappointed 𒅌for Mick and myself obviously that the two of us lost a good opportunity to score points,” said Vettel. “I did not expect him, I need to have a look again. When I saw him, it was obviously too late, so we made contact.”

Guanyu Zhou 

It was ⛄a case of ‘what might have been’ for F1 rookie Guanyu Zhou in Miami after💖 he was forced to retire because of a engine-related issue just six laps in. 

Zhou was caught out by traffic during qualifying as he was eliminated in 17t🍨h but the Chinese racer had made encouraging progress in the opening laps and was convinced he had the pace to recover to the points. 

Guanyu Zhou (CHN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C42. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida, USA, Race
Guanyu Zhou (CHN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C42. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix…

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