Don Kennedy: Max’s Miami masterclass

It was a Max Verstappen and Red Bull masterclass in the Miami Grand Prix. Photo / Don Kennedy

A Triple M headline for a triple-A performance is a fitting way to reference world champion Max Verstappen’s winning performance in the Miami Grand Prix.

He started from only ninth place on the grid after Q3 was red-flagged due to Charles Leclerc crashing his Ferrari with only a couple of minutes to spare.

That meant Verstappen and a few others couldn’t complete qualifying runs, whereas his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was able to snatch pole position from Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin, and Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari. Verstappen had to abort his first run in Q3 as he ran wide on one corner, and Leclerc’s crash, which resembled a crash he had at the same corner during practice, meant Verstappen had eight cars between himself and Perez at the start of the race.

But as we saw several times last year, Verstappen starting further down the grid doesn’t seem to phase him, and so it would prove. Perez did nothing wrong, but wasn’t able to get enough out of his car and tyres in the first half of the race to create enough of a lead to resist the flying Dutchman in the last 10 laps of the race.

Verstappen had been able to get the most out of a long first stint on hard tyres to take the lead from Perez when the latter pitted to switch from soft to hard tyres. By contrast, Verstappen started on hard tyres and finished on softs, and after pitting, it only took him a few laps to catch and pass Perez to make it three wins from five races.

Perez took second and Alonso had his fourth podium finish in five races, after getting the better of an early race battle with his friend and compatriot Sainz in the Ferrari. Sainz was passed in the closing stages by George Russell in the Mercedes, and had to take a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

But all honours were with the race-winner, who scored his 38th F1 victory, and with an extra point for the fastest lap, he extended his championship lead over Perez to 14. He was understandably very satisfied with his latest victory, especially given many pundits thought Perez might be capable of getting the better of Verstappen based on his victory in Baku.

“It was a good race,” an understated Verstappen told interviewer Jenson Button in parc ferme.

“I stayed out of trouble at the beginning and then just had a clean race, picked the cars off one by one. Then I could stay out really long on the hard tyres, and that’s where I think we made the difference today.

“I had a good little battle with Checo at the end. We kept it clean, and that’s the most important thing - it’s a great win today.

“Yesterday was, of course, a bit of a setback. Today, we just kept it calm, kept it clean, and for sure, winning a race from P9 is always very satisfying.”

For Perez, it was still a great race, but after winning in Baku - where he appeared to have matched Verstappen’s pace - and taking pole, while Verstappen started way down the grid, he must have fancied his chances of a win and taking the lead in the championship. It wasn’t to be, as he couldn’t match the pace of Verstappen no matter which tyres he was on.

“I tried, I gave it all, you know,” Perez said. “I think the first stint was really poor with the graining that we had on that on the initial pace. That compromised the race quite a lot because we didn’t have too much of a difference on tyres. Max was particularly strong today, so [it’s] a well-deserved win for him.”

For Red Bull boss Christian Horner, it was another proud moment to see his drivers finish one-two for the fourth time in five races. The success has left him wondering, because he is adamant it wasn’t expected when the season began.

“Five races, five wins plus the sprint, four one-two finishes - we’ve never, ever had a start like this, and we’re kind of wondering: ‘Where are the others?’” he told Sky Sports F1.

“We’ve made a normal step - or what we thought [was one] - over the winter, and I think it’s more, where did Ferrari and Mercedes go?

“So, I’m sure they are working hard on big upgrades for Europe and, with the penalty we have to develop the car later in the year, its important for us to get as much fresh air as we can between ourselves and the opposition at this stage.”

Horner is referring to the FIA penalty for exceeding the budget cap for the year ending 2021, which means the team will lose 10 per cent of its wind tunnel testing time. If they stay in current form, it may not make much difference. Alonso, for one, thinks the situation won’t change at Imola, having suggested his best chance of a victory might be at Monaco, where the speed of the Red Bulls will be somewhat nullified.

“At the moment, it is hard to keep them behind,” he told Sky Sports F1. “And I was hoping that he had, like, a DRS [drag reduction system] train of cars in front of him, but he was just making moves, one after the other, and the guys in front, they were not in the DRS either.”

“So it was a little bit too easy for him. Hopefully next time, we try between all of us to make things more difficult.”

Alonso was 21 seconds behind Perez, but in turn, seven seconds ahead of Russell, describing it as a “lonely afternoon out there”.

“There was nothing I could do against Max and Sergio, but happily, there was no pressure today from behind, so we’ll take this result.”

Former world champion and current Sky Sports commentator Jenson Button isn’t sure if the Red Bulls can be stopped from winning this year.

“It’s going to be a tough team to beat this year at any track we go to,” he commented

“It’s worked on street courses, fast courses, low-speed stuff - it’s just phenomenal. So yeah, it’s going to be tricky.”

Ferrari did not have a good day. After crashing out of qualifying, Leclerc still started in seventh for the race, which is where he finished, claiming afterwards that “we have been struggling all day”.

“Very similar picture to the beginning of the year. We are competitive in qualifying; once we come to race day, we are struggling like crazy,” he added.

Sainz finished behind Russell and just ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the other Mercedes, and like Leclerc, he was unhappy with the tyre wear on his car.

“I think we are in the middle of a learning process,” Sainz remarked. “And this weekend will help us a lot to understand why, again, we could fight for pole yesterday, do a very good stint on medium [tyres] and push Fernando on the medium and suddenly put hard [tyres] on, do three or four laps pushing to try an undercut, and then this means that next thing, you’re going to finish 20 seconds behind a car that is… we were actually quicker on the medium.”

Mercedes drivers Russell and Hamilton were relatively happy with their cars’ improved performance levels, finishing fourth and sixth after starting sixth and 13th respectively.

Russell is well aware that finishing over half a minute behind the Red Bulls is not where he and his team want to be, and he has been sceptical about the true pace of the Red Bulls, having suggested after three races they were sandbagging - and after five races, he’s even more convinced that is the case.

“They are so far away from all of us,” he said. “I always wonder if they drive at full power or have something else up their sleeves. It’s actually a shame for the sport, although, of course, you have to congratulate them on doing such a good job.”

Russell probably doesn’t need to be reminded that his team won the Constructors’ championship for eight consecutive years between 2014 and 2021, and had he been with the team then, it is unlikely he would have thought it was a shame. Red Bull won that championship for four consecutive years from 2010 to 2013, but it wasn’t until last year that it was able to add its Constructors’ championship total.

Hamilton benefitted from that Mercedes dominance, adding six drivers’ titles to the first one he got with McLaren in 2008. He remains fourth in the current drivers’ title race, and says he made headway in the race after switching from hard to soft tyres.

“The car came a bit alive midway through the race, and I think to get from 13th to sixth - I’m pretty happy with that,” he said. “Unfortunately, we started so far behind, but I enjoyed the race. I had a lot of fun just making my way through.”

Of course, the driver who had the most fun making his way through was Verstappen, going from ninth to first. So, does he feel comfortable in terms of the title battle?

“I always feel unbeatable but, sometimes, other people have a really good day and they can be close to you or match you and be ahead. But I think what is important is you try to be close to 100 per cent perfect every single time,” he stated.

“Yesterday wasn’t perfect so, overall, this weekend wasn’t perfect. But it’s a long season, and I try to always be as close as possible to perfection.”