Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez +5.384
Fernando Alonso +26.305
George Russell +33.229
Carlos Sainz +42.511
Lewis Hamilton +51.249
Charles Leclerc +52.988
Pierre Gasly +55.670
Esteban Ocon +58.123
Kevin Magnussen +62.945
Yuki Tsunoda +64.309
Lance Stroll +64.754
Valtteri Bottas +71.637
Alex Albon +72.861
Nico Hulkenberg +74.950
Zhou Guanyu +78.440
Lando Norris +87.717
Nyck De Vries +88.949
Oscar Piastri +1 Lap
Logan Sargeant +1 Lap

Welcome to the Max Verstappen show. I definitely did not expect a win from Verstappen after yesterday’s qualifying session but when Verstappen puts in as dominate of a performance as he did today, winning from 9th on the grid is possible. But let’s start with yesterday’s qualifying and how Max ended up starting today’s race in 9th. In qualifying yesterday, Max was fastest in both Q1 and Q2, and it seemed like a forgone conclusion that he would also win the pole in Q3. But in his first qualifying attempt in Q3 he went wide in a turn and just aborted the lap. Meanwhile Sergio Perez put down a solid first lap and was leading the way in qualifying. When Max came back out to for his last attempt to put down a lap, Charles Leclerc spun and hit the wall bringing out the red flag and with not enough time on the clock, an end to qualifying. Without even completing a lap in Q3, Verstappen was in 9th place and Perez would take home the pole.

It was obvious that Red Bull was fast this weekend and that Max would make his way through the field and up to second place. The question is would he be able to chase down his teammate Sergio Perez. As the race got underway, there weren’t any big movers right away. Most of the field filed right into the same position that they lined up on the grid. It even took Verstappen a few laps to start making moves. The first big one coming on lap 4 where he pulled off a double pass on both Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen. By lap 10 Verstappen was by George Russell and Pierre Gasly for 4th. And by lap 15 he was past Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso for 2nd. So essentially it took Verstappen a quarter of the race to go from 9th to 2nd, but the real shock was that by the time Verstappen was in 2nd, Sergio Perez was only about 5 seconds clear. This is where Sergio Perez lost the race in my opinion. The Red Bull was miles faster than the 2nd quickest car on the grid and Perez should’ve been much further than 5 seconds clear of Fernando Alonso in 2nd place after 15 laps. But he wasn’t and we would have the next 35 laps to see the two Red Bulls battle.

One of the biggest things that made this race interesting was the different tire strategies that drivers were on. About half the field started the race on hard tires and would be switching over to mediums, while the other half started on mediums and would switch over hard tires. Perez started out the race on mediums, while Verstappen started out the race on hards, which is just another reason why Perez should’ve been a lot more than 5 seconds clear. With Perez on mediums, he would be pitting first and this came around lap 20. After his pit stop, Verstappen would take over the lead which he would hold onto for the next 25 laps or so. Despite Perez being on newer hard tires, he was never able to cut down Verstappen’s lead. Verstappen’s lead fluctuated between 15 and 17 seconds over those 25 laps and when Verstappen finally did pit on about lap 45, he came out around 1-2 seconds behind Perez. And about 1 lap later on new medium tires, Max went around Perez and retook the lead. Max Verstappen would cruise to his 3rd win of the season and Red Bull’s 4th 1-2 finish of the season.

Race 👏 Winning 👏 Move 👏@Max33Verstappen left it late to pounce on Checo and claim victory!#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/rjPE1TFhzv
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2023

3 Star Drivers

3rd Star - Fernando Alonso

This was kind of a tough one to give out but I decided to go with Fernando Alonso. Alonso picks up his 4th podium on the season and meanwhile his teammate who is in the same equipment did not crack the top 10 in today’s race.

2nd Star - Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was terrible in qualifying yesterday and there’s just no way around it. While the Mercedes car may lack the single lap speed of the Aston Martin and the Ferrari, the Mercedes is right there with Aston Martin as the 2nd fastest car on the grid this season in race pace. So there is no reason that Hamilton should be qualifying 13th. But despite the bad qualifying, Hamilton worked him way up throughout the race and ended up finishing 6th. The highest I thought Hamilton would get after the early part of the race was about 8th, but him moving up past Pierre Gasly and even Charles Leclerc was impressive. Seven positions gained and a 6th place finish isn’t too bad from starting 13th.

1st Star - Max Verstappen

Of course the driver of the day goes to Max Verstappen after that drive. Sure he has the fastest car on the grid but so does his teammate Sergio Perez, who started the race 7 cars ahead of Max. Verstappen was just as fast as Perez while he was on a harder tire earlier in the race and he continued to be fast on those hard tires even after 40 some laps. It was a fantastic race by Verstappen today and what you would consider a nearly perfect drive.

Late on the brakes, and eight in his wake 🚀@Max33Verstappen powered through the field en route to victory!#MiamiGP #F1 @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/Bqeeqfo5CS
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 8, 2023

Other Notes:

What a bad race weekend for Ferrari and a terrible weekend for Charles Leclerc. We already mentioned Leclerc’s wreck in qualifying but that was actually his 2nd wreck in the exact same spot on the weekend as he wrecked in practice as well. Despite this, Leclerc was fast in Q1 and Q2 and I figured he would work his way up to potentially a podium from starting 8th. Leclerc gained a single whopping position today and got passed by Hamilton who started 5 spots behind him. Then Carlos Sainz who started today’s race 3rd, fell back to 5th and also got passed by a Mercedes car in George Russell. All the momentum that Ferrari picked up last weekend in Azerbaijan was tossed out the window. Sure they can produce solid single lap speed, but can they generate enough race pace to fight Mercedes and Aston Martin for the 2nd spot on the grid?
Through 5 races, Aston Martin sit in 2nd place in the constructors championship. And while Lance Stroll has looked decent at times, this early season success is down to Fernando Alonso. Of the team's 105 pts, Fernando Alonso accounts for 75 of them. Nearly 75% of the team’s points. Fernando Alonso now has four 3rd place finishes and his only non-podium finish was last week in Azerbaijan where he finished in 4th place and was less than a second to 3rd. I’ll be the first to admit that I thought Alonso’s move to Aston Martin was bizarre but so far it’s been better than anybody could’ve ever imagined.
I complimented McLaren last week on their back to back solid performances so it’s only fitting that they put in an absolute stinker. 17th for Norris and 19th for Piastri. Worst combined finish of any team on the grid.
Logan Sargeant impressed everybody in the first race of the season which was also his first race of his F1 career but since then he has been arguably the worst driver on the grid and hasn’t been higher than 16th. We are only 5 races in, but Albon makes his Williams car semi-competitive, so it’s time that Sargaent starts doing the same.

Standings