Max Verstappen edges Leclerc to win Miami Grand Prix Sprint

Max Verstappen secured his second F1 Sprint victory of the season at the Formula 1 2024 Miami Grand Prix on Saturday ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, despite complaining about issues with his car throughout.

The reigning world champion fought off Charles Leclerc who got the better start off the line after qualifying on pole and nearly forced the Ferrari man into the wall as he held onto first position with such a short run down to Turn One.

Leclerc tried his hardest to maintain his attack at the Red Bull, but he ultimately had to settle for second. Sergio Perez joined them in the top three aboard the sister Red Bull, ahead of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo’s incredible attempt.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton’s run inside through turn one created a four-wide incident that resulted in the Aston Martin cars making contact with Lando Norris, who was forced to stop by the side of the track. This led to the early deployment of the safety car during the short race.

Stroll was also forced to retire from the race while Fernando Alonso needed to pit for a new front wing.

After the safety car, Verstappen continued leading the charge while Leclerc was closely following behind. However, when the stewards reactivated the DRS the Dutchman was able to exit ITS range without taking off considerably.

Perez made a determined move to retake third place from Ricciardo. He just about made it past down the back straight on lap 6 despite running deep. That left the RB under heavy pressure from Sainz and Piastri, but Ricciardo was just able to keep close enough to Perez ahead to benefit from DRS activation to counter the attacks from behind.

Ricciardo was finally swept up by Perez’s quicker Red Bull and found himself under intense pressure from Carlos Sainz after losing the DRS advantage while running behind the RB20.

By the ninth lap, Hamilton and Magnussen were locked in an epic battle for the last point-scoring spot. The Dane put up a strong defense, occasionally veering off the course to get an edge over the Mercedes which ultimately landed him a ten second penalty.

Magnussen received a black and white flag for his aggressive defending on lap 14 after the two went side by side and almost went off the track at Turn 13. RB’s Yuki Tsunoda managed to pass Hamilton as they went wide and later overtook Magnussen on lap 16.

Meanwhile, Verstappen maintained his advantage and went on to secure his second sprint race of the year, finishing three seconds ahead of Leclerc and Perez in third.

Sainz was unable to overtake Ricciardo, who finished ahead of Piastri and the Ferrari driver to record his first points of the year. Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg placed seventh collecting two championship points. Tsunoda was unable to pass Hamilton on the final lap, but the Japanese driver took the final point after the Mercedes driver received a penalty for speeding under the safety car.

That restored Tsunoda to eighth in the final classifications as Hamilton dropped to P16.

Pierre Gasly was the lead BWT Alpine F1 Team driver in ninth, ahead of Logan Sargeant and Guanyu Zhou. Russell couldn’t make up any ground after the Turn One drama, and found himself stuck in a DRS train for the duration of the sprint.

Alex Albon finished in thirteenth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman picked up a 10 second penalty before the Sprint even started, after hitting Leclerc in the pitlane. Alonso finished seventeenth ahead of Magnussen.

2024 F1 Miami Grand Prix Sprint Race Results