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2022 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix highlights

Monday, 09 May 2022

Introduction

Max Verstappen won the inaugural 2022 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, having pried the leadoff Ferrari’s pole-sitter Charles Leclerc early in the race, and defended it in an enthralling late-race battle.

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Red Bull’s reigning champion took P2 off Carlos Sainz into Turn 1 at the start and soon began to close in on Leclerc. The Ferrari driver lost the lead to his rival on the main straight at the start of Lap 9 of 57 and pitted from mediums to hards on Lap 24, causing Verstappen to react with his stop two laps later. It seemed that Verstappen would cruise to victory in front of Miami Gardens’ marina…

That was until the Lap 41 caution, a VSC-turned-Safety Car triggered by a clash between Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris, which sent the McLaren driver into a spin as his right-rear tyre ripped off. Perez took the opportunity to pit for new mediums from P4, emerging there, with hard-shod Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz ahead.

The Lap 47 restart saw Verstappen lead away but struggle to build up a gap to Leclerc. It was equally difficult for Sainz, who was being hounded by medium-shod Sergio Perez for the final podium place.

Perez attempted to pass Sainz on Lap 52 but locked up, both drivers avoiding contact, while Leclerc was under half a second behind Verstappen in the chase for the lead. But neither Perez nor Leclerc could make headway, and the win – narrow as it was over the Ferraris – would be Verstappen’s.

Rounding out the top five was George Russell, who started 11th and pitted during the VSC, using the benefit of newer tyres to pass teammate Lewis Hamilton on Lap 54. Hamilton lamented the fact that he couldn’t pit during the VSC but was promoted to P6 when Valtteri Bottas went wide at Turn 17 on Lap 49.

The Alfa Romeo driver seemed destined for P5 having started there, but his late mistake left him seventh. The Alpines were next, Esteban Ocon finishing eighth from Fernando Alonso in ninth – the latter having been penalised by five seconds for contact with Gasly.

Alonso was given a further five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on the penultimate lap, promoting Alex Albon to P9, Lance Stroll to P10, and demoting the two-time champion to 11th.

Kevin Magnussen retired late on after contact with Lance Stroll (P10 after having started in the pits), as did Sebastian Vettel – who started in the pits and was tapped out of the race by Mick Schumacher (P15).

Gasly did not finish after his contact with Norris (DNF), while Zhou Guanyu was the first retiree, having been pulled into the pits on Lap 7.

Despite starting on the front row, Ferrari couldn’t convert their advantage to a Miami Grand Prix win – while Max Verstappen has now made it two wins in a row.

Mario Isola – Head of F1 and car racing at Pirelli commented:

A strong performance from the tyres here meant that the race gravitated towards a one-stop strategy, whereas we had previously anticipated a two-stopper. This was also thanks to the fact that temperatures were notably cooler today compared to previous days. The teams were able to stretch their first stints, probably in the expectation of a safety car or other opportunity, but in the end that only came towards the end of the race, after nearly everybody had stopped. A few drivers tried to take advantage of that by changing tyres, with three drivers running all three compounds during the race. However, Verstappen and Leclerc fought hard for the race win and fastest lap even on used hard tyres in the closing stages. It was an exciting finish to an eagerly-anticipated Grand Prix: we hope that all the podium finishers enjoyed their special Pirelli American Football helmets!

2022 Formula 1 Miami GP Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Points	Overall
1.	1	Max Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull Racing	1:34:24.258	26	77
2.	16	Charles Leclerc	Monaco	Scuderia Ferrari	+3.786s	18	97
3.	55	Carlos Sainz	Spain	Scuderia Ferrari	+8.229s	15	48
4.	11	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Red Bull Racing Honda	+10.638s	12	60
5.	63	George Russell	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+18.582s	10	59
6.	44	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+21.368s	8	36
7.	77	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+25.073s	6	28
8.	31	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine F1 Team	+28.386s	4	24
9.	23	Alexander Albon	Thailand	Williams Racing	+32.365s	2	3
10.	18	Lance Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin F1 Team	+37.026s	1	2
11.	14	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Alpine F1 Team	+37.128s	0	2
12.	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+40.146s	0	10
13.	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Australia	McLaren Racing	+40.902s	0	8
14.	6	Nicholas Latifi	Canada	Williams Racing	+49.936s	0	0
15.	47	Mick Schumacher	Germany	Haas F1 Team	+73.305s	0	0
16.	20	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas F1 Team	DNF	0	14
17.	5	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Aston Martin F1 Team	DNF	0	4
18.	10	Pierre Gasly	France	Scuderia AlphaTauri	DNF	0	6
19.	4	Lando Norris	Great Britain	Mclaren Racing	DNF	0	31
20.	24	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	DNF	0	1

2022 Constructor Standings

Pos	Team	Points
1.	Scuderia Ferrari	157
2.	Red Bull Racing	151
3.	Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	95
4.	McLaren Racing	46
5.	Alfa Romeo Racing	31
6.	Alpine F1 Team	26
7.	Scuderia AlphaTauri	16
8.	Haas F1 Team	15
9.	Aston Martin F1 Team	6
10.	Williams Racing	3