This page may contain affiliate links. If you click and sign up, make a deposit, or place a wager, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Sergio Perez started the Miami Grand Prix at the front, with teammate Max Verstappen ninth. By lap 21, Verstappen was in the race lead, and that was pretty much it. While there were challenges up and down the field, the front three cars pretty much raced by themselves and it was a race that was won on calculators and computers as much as it was won through skill and daring on the track, something perhaps lost on the casual fan but not to the regular F1 follower.
The question is this: With Perez, along with most of the grid, starting on medium tires while Verstappen went with the hard compound, did Red Bull Racing use Perez as a stalking goat, letting the Ferraris and Aston Martins chase Perez while putting Verstappen on a different strategy of pitting later rather than earlier with everyone else?
"We started talking about [starting on the hard tire] yesterday," Verstappen explained after the race ended. "We were quite confident that it would pay off."
Grand Prix of Miami top 10
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas
Certainly, splitting the strategy between the two cars covered the field, especially as most of the frontrunners had opted for mediums to start. Only Lewis Hamilton, of the cars that perhaps had a chance to finish on the podium, started on the hard compounds, and that was likely because Hamilton has had his issues with the team choosing what he believes to be the wrong compound in previous races.
Whatever the reason, Red Bull Racing covered themselves beautifully. Perez had more than enough pace to keep the Ferraris, Aston Martins, Mercedes and the rest behind. And Verstappen had fresher tires at the finish.
It set up for what the Miami GP needed, that being a challenge between two cars for the lead late in the race, but even then it only seemed it was a matter of time that Verstappen would catch Perez -- which he did shortly after pitting for tires at lap 45.
The only problem is that the challenge came so quickly that the final eight laps seemed superfluous. Perez was not going to be able to challenge Verstappen, who quickly built a gap of over two seconds.
"I gave it my all," Perez said. "We had graining on that early set, and I think the medium [tire] was poor. Worse than expected. It really comprised our pace."
Having a lonely race and happy for it was Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin in third, followed by George Russell's Mercedes in fourth.
"Nothing we could do with the Red Bulls," Alonso said. "At the start of the season, I think the team would have been happy to just reach the podium. After the fourth, obviously we want more. But the Red Bulls … they are unbreakable and extremely fast."
It was another weekend to forget for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc never getting his race in order but somehow managing to finish inside the top 10, and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. running in the top five most of the day. Sainz even had a pit lane violation for speeding add five seconds to his final time and still finished fifth.
Also having a weekend to forget was Logan Sargeant. The American, who grew up in South Florida, started 20th and finished there for a bittersweet day at his home Grand Prix.
Goodbye, Miami. It's on to San Marino.
