Five drivers who had a race to forget in F1’s first Miami GP
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Winners Max Verstappen A crucial result for Max Verstappen, 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 Leclerc 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. 3079299.0064.jpg George Russell After being knocked out in Q2, George Russell bounced back on Sunday to maintain his record of being the only driver 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 enabled him to make a cheap pit stop to take on fresh, quicker medium tyres. Related ‘It is your job’ – Hamilton puzzled by Merc strategy as frustrations continue ‘He dive-bombed me’ – How Gasly-Alonso F1 clash led to Norris DNFThe 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. 3079192.0064.jpg Valtteri Bottas Despite overshooting the final corner in a late mistake that allowed both Mercedes by, Valtteri Bottas still turned in a brilliant performance 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 the Safety Car swung things toward his former team.Nevertheless, P7 is another strong result for Bottas, who recovered from a big on Friday to outqualify former Mercedes teammate Hamilton and secure a season-best grid slot for Alfa Romeo in Miami. Related Verstappen: Red Bull still have issues to solve despite Miami F1 win Miami F1 driver ratings: Who ranked higher – Hamilton’s current or ex-teammate?3076571.0064.jpg Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon was forced to start from the very back of the grid after a in final practice ruled him out of qualifying.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 teammate Fernando Alonso – to score points despite only feeling at “50% physically” following his accident on Saturday. “43079058.0064.jpg Alex Albon Alex Albon’s red hair superstition paid off as he finished in the points for the second time this season in 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 Australia with a patch of red in his hair. And it seemed to do the trick again in the United States. Albon was running 12th at the restart 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. 3079221.0064.jpg Losers Fernando AlonsoIt was an uncharacteristically clumsy race from the highly-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 vaulted him as high as seventh in the opening laps, before the two-time world champion later clashed with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. “5Alonso 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. 3077748.0064.jpg Lando Norris Lando 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 following a separate collision with Alonso. Norris tagged Gasly as the pair ran side-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 for McLaren. “63077772.0064.jpg Mick Schumacher Mick Schumacher’s best performance of the season was undone by a heartbreaking twist when he ed with his close friend and mentor Sebastian Vettel towards the end of Sunday’s race. A brilliant drive had put Schumacher on the verge 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 home in 15th. 3079235.0064.jpg Sebastian Vettel Vettel retired after being sent airborne and picking up race-ending damage in the 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 position he had lost to Vettel just a few corners earlier. “I’m disappointed for 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.””7Guanyu 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 17th but the Chinese racer had made encouraging progress in the opening laps and was convinced he had the pace to recover to the points. 3079250.0064.jpg
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