The first ever Miami Grand Prix offered plenty of challenges to the 20 Formula 1 drivers, with high temperatures, a low grip surface and plenty of walls to punish mistakes.
Here are RaceFans’ driver ratings for the Miami Grand Prix weekend.
Lewis Hamilton – 6
Qualified: 6th (+6 ahead of team mate) Finished: 6th (-1 behind team mate)
- Qualified sixth behind former team mate Bottas
- Lost two places at start after bump from Alonso at turn two
- Passed Alonso, then passed Gasly in early laps
- Ran behind Bottas before and after pit stop, staying out under Safety Car
- Gained a place through Bottas’s turn 17 error, lost one to his team mate soon after
- Was briefly handed his place back from Russell before being passed a second time, finishing sixth
Russell benefited from a well-timed Safety Car George Russell – 5
Qualified: 12th (-6 behind team mate) Finished: 5th (+1 ahead of team mate)
- Set the pace on Friday with the fastest lap of the day
- Eliminated from Q2 by 0.045s in 12th, admitting lack of confidence in the car
- Started on hard tyres and fell to 15th at start, later losing another place to Albon
- Passed Ricciardo and inherited places when medium runners pitted and to move up to fifth
- Pitted under convenient Virtual Safety Car, losing only two places and switching to mediums
- Passed Bottas after his mistake at turn 17, then passed Hamilton outside of track limits, having to give up place
- Overtook Hamilton a second time after handing back position, holding onto fifth at the finish
Verstappen missed most of Friday but still secured the win Max Verstappen – 8
Qualified: 3rd (+1 ahead of team mate) Finished: Winner (+3 ahead of team mate)
- Overheating problems on Friday led to him setting no timed laps in second practice
- Had provisional pole in Q3 but turn five mistake allowed Ferraris to jump him on grid
- Passed Sainz to take second at the start
- Caught Leclerc in early laps before passing him for the lead into turn one
- Managed the gap to Leclerc on the hard tyres before Safety Car
- Resisted pressure from Leclerc in closing laps to claim second successive victory, with fastest lap
Sergio Perez – 5
Qualified: 4th (-1 behind team mate) Finished: 4th (-3 behind team mate)
- Qualified fourth after admitting leaving time on the board in sector two on final Q3 lap
- Held fourth at the start and kept in touch with Sainz before sensor failure cost him seven seconds
- Unable to close gap to Sainz ahead after switching to hards
- Pitted for another set of mediums under Safety Car
- Tried to pass Sainz at restart but could not get past
- Almost able to pass Sainz with lunge into turn one but ran wide, finishing fourth
Carlos Sainz Jnr – 5
Qualified: 2nd (-1 behind team mate) Finished: 3rd (-1 behind team mate)
- High speed spin in first practice led to puncture
- Crashed at turn 14 in second practice
- Took advantage of Verstappen’s Q3 error to take second on grid by five thousandths of a second
- Lost second to Verstappen at the start
- Slow pit stop but had enough margin to retain third
- Struggled to match team mate on hards, dropping off by over half a second a lap
- Almost lost position to Perez after bad restart, then did well to repel his later attack
- Finish third and claimed his fitness was not 100-percent after recent lack of race distances
Leclerc was never lower than second in every session Charles Leclerc – 7
Qualified: Pole (+1 ahead of team mate) Finished: 2nd (+1 ahead of team mate)
- Took pole after being quickest in all three qualifying phases
- Held his lead off the line and led the early laps before being passed by Verstappen
- Pitted first of the frontrunners but lost time to Verstappen in the pit cycle
- Tried to pressure Verstappen after restart but unable to get close enough to make a move for the lead
- Never lower than second all weekend
Lando Norris – 5
Qualified: 8th (+6 ahead of team mate) Finished: Retired (Crash – L40)
- Comfortably reached Q3, securing eighth on the grid
- Lost one place at the start, running ninth until switching to hards and dropping to 16th
- Struggled to catch and pass Schumacher but later passed Vettel for 14th
- Collided with an ailing Gasly ending his race on the spot, deemed racing incident
Daniel Ricciardo – 4
Qualified: 14th (-6 behind team mate) Finished: 13th
- Reprimanded for failing to follow practice start procedure correctly
- Eliminated in Q2 after delay leaving the garage compromised his final run
- Gained one place on opening lap, then lost two in consecutive laps
- Pitted the latest of the medium starters, but fell to 17th
- Switched to softs under Virtual Safety Car and gained two places after melee at restart
- Passed Magnussen on penultimate lap at turn 12 outside of track limits, earning five second penalty
- Crossed the line 11th but fell to 13th after penalty
Alonso received two time penalties in the race Fernando Alonso – 3
Qualified: 11th Finished: 11th (-3 behind team mate)
- Disappointed to miss out of Q3, blaming traffic
- Gained four places at the start, bumping Hamilton at turn two
- Passed by Hamilton on lap three, dropping to eighth, then ran close to Gasly over opening stint
- Tried to undercut Gasly but failed, spending 22 more laps unable to pass him
- Hit Gasly at turn one, earning a five second time penalty which he later apologised for
- Investigated twice for missing the turn 14 chicane and gaining an advantage, handed a second time penalty for one of them
- Finished eighth on track but penalties demoted him to 11th
Esteban Ocon – 4
Qualified: 20th – No time set Finished: 8th (+3 ahead of team mate)
- Reprimanded for nearly hitting Russell in pits in first practice
- Heavy 51G crash at turn 14 in third practice forced him out of qualifying
- Passed Latifi on the second lap before running behind Albon on hard tyres
- Gained places from rivals ahead stopping, eventually rising to eighth
- Pitted after Virtual Safety Car was upgraded to Safety Car, allowing him to rejoin in tenth
- Ran tenth at restart, gained ninth after Vettel and Schumacher collided
- Claimed after the race to have been feeling “50 percent physically” after Saturday crash
Pierre Gasly – 5
Qualified: 7th (+2 ahead of team mate) Finished: Retired (Crash damage, L45)
- Secured seventh on the grid after “best qualifying of the year”
- Passed Hamilton at the start to sit sixth before Hamilton retook the place on lap six
- Absorbed pressure from Alonso and had to pit early to defend undercut attempt
- Faced more pressure from Alonso until being hit by the Alpine at turn one
- Told that his car data looked clear after clash but complained of bent steering
- Suddenly lost grip entering the marina, losing multiple positions until contact with Norris ended his race
Yuki Tsunoda – 4
Qualified: 9th (-2 behind team mate) Finished: 12th
- Struggled for practice pace compared with team mate
- Reached Q3 to secure ninth on grid
- Lost one position to Alonso at the start
- First to switch from mediums to hards, dropping him to the back
- Pitted for softs under Safety Car but only able to pass Latifi, finishing in 12th
Vettel’s race ended after contact with Schumacher Sebastian Vettel – 4
Qualified: 13th (-3 behind team mate) Classified: 17th (-7 behind team mate)
- Eliminated in Q2 after admitting “small wobble” in final sector cost him Q3 berth
- Forced to start from the pit lane after fuel legality concerns
- Followed team mate Stroll up the order on hard tyres until passed by Magnussen
- Repassed Magnussen at turn 17 before losing position to both Haas at turn 11 the next lap
- Gained two places after restart clash between Stroll and Magnussen to sit 11th
- Snatched two places from Ocon and Schumacher at turn 17
- Collision at turn on with Schumacher ended race, deemed racing incident
Lance Stroll – 6
Qualified: 10th (+3 ahead of team mate) Finished: 10th (+7 ahead of team mate)
- Reached Q3 but “messy” final sector left him ninth
- Forced to start from the pit lane after fuel legality concerns
- Ran hard tyres on first stint, passing Latifi and fighting off Magnussen
- Stuck behind Alonso for 24 laps until pitting under Virtual Safety Car
- Clashed with Magnussen at restart, losing three places
- Received black-and-white warning flag for weaving
- Second collision with Magnussen at turn 11, but deemed not responsible by stewards
- Finished 12th on track but inherited a point for tenth after Alonso and Ricciardo penalised
Nicholas Latifi – 3
Qualified: 19th (-1 behind team mate) Finished: 14th (-5 behind team mate)
- Slowest in all three practice sessions
- Eliminated slowest in Q1 to start 19th
- Started on hard tyres but struggled for pace over first stint
- Ran at back of the field before pitting but could not take advantage of medium tyres
- Finished ahead of both Haas drivers after their late problems
Albon scored points for the second time in three races Alexander Albon – 6
Qualified: 18th (+1 ahead of team mate) Finished: 9th (+5 ahead of team mate)
- Fined for exceeding pit lane speed limit by 7.6km/h in first practice
- Baffled by failure to convert promising practice pace into qualifying, leaving him 18th
- Used medium tyres to pass Russell in early laps
- Made early switch to hards, passing Tsunoda and Latifi still on old tyres
- Jumped five spots to 11th under Safety Car
- Passed by Vettel after restart, dropping to 12th
- Gained two places after Vettel and Schumacher collided to finish tenth, which became ninth after Alonso penalty
Valtteri Bottas – 6
Qualified: 5th (+12 ahead of team mate) Finished: 7th
- Crashed at turn seven in first practice, causing heavy damage that ended his Friday running
- Secured ‘best of the rest’ honours with fifth on the grid in qualifying
- Kept fifth off the line and ran there through the entire opening stint
- Gained fifth back under Safety Car but lost two places to Mercedes after turn 17 mistake
- Unable to challenge Hamilton ahead and finished seventh
Zhou Guanyu – 5
Qualified: 17th (-12 behind team mate) Finished: Retired (Water leak – L6)
- Eliminated in Q1 for only the first time this season after hitting traffic on final lap
- Gained one place over Russell on opening lap
- Ran 14th until being called in to retire with a water leak on lap six
Mick Schumacher – 4
Qualified: 15th (+1 ahead of team mate) Finished: 15th (+1 ahead of team mate)
- Reached Q2 but eliminated as slowest in second session
- Passed Ricciardo and Tsunoda in early laps, before being told to let Magnussen by for tenth
- Gained ninth after rivals pitted under Safety Car
- Took advantage of Magnussen’s lunge on Vettel to pass him before Magnussen error moved him 12th
- Clashed with Vettel in closing laps, causing him to pit for new front wing, deemed racing incident
Magnussen described Miami as his hardest race ever Kevin Magnussen – 3
Qualified: 16th (-1 behind team mate) Finished: 16th (-1 behind team mate)
- Eliminated in Q1 after losing radio communication in qualifying
- Passed Ricciardo and Tsunoda in early laps before being allowed past Schumacher
- Dived past Vettel for 13th but mistake at turn 17 allowed Schumacher back through
- Clashed with Stroll at the restart, suffering front wing damage
- Made further contact with Stroll at turn 11, receiving a five second penalty
- Described the race as the “hardest I’ve ever done”
Over to you
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