Max Verstappen has earned himself a new nickname: Miami Max. Formula One returned to the United States for the first of three 2023 races this weekend at the Miami Grand Prix, and the Red Bull driver found himself at the top of the podium for the second year in a row.
After its debut on the calendar last season, Miami was once again host to the pinnacle of motorsport at a circuit built around the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. While the starting grid for Sunday’s race was shaken up due to a dramatic incident for Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari, this year’s Miami GP was mostly incident-free. But it wasn’t without action, on and off the track.
Here are the story lines and takeaways from a star-studded weekend at the Miami GP.
John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports
Verstappen seems unstoppable
Verstappen qualified ninth after failing to set a quick lap time Saturday, when former championship rival Leclerc crashed and caused the session to end early. The last time a driver won a Grand Prix from the ninth position? Almost 40 years ago, when F1 icon Niki Lauda won in Dijon, France.
With Red Bull looking bulletproof, Verstappen worked his way through the field throughout the beginning of the race and soon enough stormed to the front of the pack, leading the middle stages. Eventually, he held off his teammate, Sergio Perez, to take his 38th victory in F1 and third of the year. Verstappen now equals Sebastian Vettel’s record of most wins at Red Bull, where he won all four world titles.
Perez finished in second, giving Red Bull four 1–2 results in the season’s first five races. The team also had a special fan-designed livery for the weekend, something they will do for the remaining two U.S. races this year. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished in third for the fourth time in 2023. George Russell finished fourth, while Lewis Hamilton finished sixth.
@jordantsanford Tour the Pit Lane with me 😱 @pirelli_official #Pirelli #F1 #MiamiF1
♬ original sound - Jordan Sanford
Embracing the stars and stripes
In previous visits, F1 has been open to making the U.S. events more of a show. From big opening ceremonies to Michael Buffer hyping up the drivers before the race, we’ve seen it all in recent years. But things were turned up a notch for this year’s Miami GP.
Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am helped conduct a stunning orchestral version of his new suspenseful track, “THE FORMULA,” while rapper LL Cool J welcomed each of the 20 drivers onto the grid with their own separate shoutouts. The eight-minute ordeal is not generally seen at events but was mandatory for all drivers to take part in. Mercedes driver Hamilton seemed to enjoy the change of tradition before getting into his car.
In addition to the smoke machines and cheerleaders on the grid, postrace procedures got a transformation, too. The top three finishers were all driven in separate open-top cars to the podium, where they were dropped off at a unique, NFL-inspired cool-down room as they celebrated at the Miami Dolphins’ home stadium. Made to look like a locker room, the drivers had personalized jerseys correlating with their finishing position alongside a football helmet as they took a moment to wind down before accepting their respective trophies.
Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY Sports
On their best behavior
With hot and humid temperatures and a street circuit that demands full attention, many predicted the Miami International Autodrome could serve up some drama. But despite plenty of overtaking and a newly resurfaced track that provided less grip, it was a very disciplined affair.
All cars crossed the finish line for the 11th time in F1’s history—no crashes, mechanical failures or race-ending driver mistakes. No yellow flags were issued to prepare for an incident on or off the track ahead. In addition, there were no safety cars deployed to slow and bring the field together. The only sanction was for Carlos Sainz of Ferrari, who exceeded the pit lane speed limit by 2.2 km/h and was handed a five-second time penalty.
“We score, you score”
Haas is the only U.S. F1 team on the grid, so this weekend was a big deal for it. Although things got off to a wobbly start when driver Nico Hulkenberg crashed in a practice session, Kevin Magnussen made up for it by lining up on the grid in fourth. It was the team’s first start from the second row of the grid for a Grand Prix, with “K-Mag” getting first place in Brazil and fourth place in Imola last year, both during the F1 Sprint.
Magnussen would go on to secure a championship point for finishing in 10th. An excellent result for the team, and one of their sponsors, Chipotle, had to stay true to its word. The two had struck a deal that if Haas got into the points, it would give out a code for a free entrée for the first 10,000 people to use it.
quick pit stop in the @HaasF1Team x Chipotle car 🏎💨 pic.twitter.com/zmrLhKRRrf
— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) May 6, 2023
Magnussen is really giving the fans what they want.
How did the hometown hero fare?
This weekend, Logan Sargeant got the opportunity to race at home in Florida, just 20 minutes from where he grew up. Earlier this year, the 22-year-old became the first U.S. driver in F1 since 2015 and faced plenty of pressure at his home race this weekend.
The Williams Racing driver qualified in 20th but was forced to make an early unscheduled pit stop for a front wing change to his car, which meant he rejoined the track with a significant time disadvantage. He was left hoping for a safety car to help bunch up the pack, but it never arrived. As a result, he kept it clean and consistent for the remainder of the race and finished where he started. It was not the result the home crowd might have hoped for, but it was still a race that the team and Sargeant could learn from.
