Formula 1 Miami

Max Verstappen won the first-ever Miami Grand Prix having pried the lead off Ferrari's pole-sitter Charles Leclerc early in the race, and defended it on a ...

Alonso – now holding a five-second penalty for contact with Gasly – led Schumacher and Ocon at the back of the top 10. "I think I’ll stick to racing," he said when asked by Willy T Ribbs if he was fit enough to step into the boxing ring, "but I appreciate a lot of boxing. Tsunoda was however promoted to 12th after the post-race penalties for Alonso and Ricciardo. That left Williams driver Latifi in P14. The podium saw the top three celebrate in front of Miami Dolphins legend Dan Marino – and his statue. Then, on Lap 41, Gasly – who had previously been tapped at the final corner by Alonso – went wide at Turn 8, rejoined, and clashed with Norris, ripping the McLaren’s rear-right tyre off and sending him into a spin. Leclerc prepared his rebuttal, tailing the Red Bull throughout the next lap – but the reigning champion was now in a commanding position. Leclerc was next to pit, a swap to hards taking 3.2 seconds, as he emerged in P4 on Lap 25. A sensor issue was to blame and Perez was back – but had lost considerable time (and some engine power to boot) to Sainz ahead. 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. On Lap 6, he took P6 off Gasly and the seven-time champion was back where he began. 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. Perez took the opportunity to pit for new mediums from P4, emerging there, with hard-shod Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz ahead.