Total disappointment: the race in Miami

The race in Miami showed great hopes, as this is a completely new track in America, and accordingly the popularity is high.

And indeed, a large number of people attended the race, including famous people, but the race itself left much to be desired.

Here are the results:

The beginning was quite interesting. Firstly, before the race itself, it became known that two Aston Martin cars with drivers Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll would start from the pit lane.

According to reports, the problem is related to the fuel temperature, which turned out to be lower than allowed by the FIA. The team was trying to achieve the necessary indicators to be able to start from the pit lane. And they did!

During the start, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who got the third position during qualifying, immediately pulled ahead to second place, overtaking Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, but he could not immediately pass the race leader Charles Leclerc. But soon Max attacked on the starting straight and overtook Charles on braking in the first corner, securing the first place on which he was until the end of the race. Max Verstappen has won the Miami Grand Prix!

"It was an incredible Grand Prix! It was a very tough fight, but I think we kept the spectacular spectacle until the very end. I'm incredibly happy to win here in Miami, it was an incredible Sunday for us” - Max Verstappen (1st).

Charles Leclerc could not overtake him, although he pressed Max Verstappen for a whole race.

As a result, the Ferrari driver finished second.

«It was a very difficult race from a physical point of view. In the first segment, I had difficulties on Medium tires, and I was overtaken. From that moment on, the race became a little more difficult.

I was very competitive on the hard tyres and towards the end I thought I could beat Max at some point, but today they (Red Bull) had the advantage in pace.

We need to keep attacking. Updates will play an important role, and I hope that now we can take a step forward in the next race. It was an exciting start to the season» - Charles Leclerc (2nd).

Carlos Sainz, despite numerous attempts by Sergio Perez to get around him, still retained his honorable third place, being on the podium. Recall that Carlos got into incidents several times during the practice of the Miami Grand Prix, but in the end, despite the failures, he drove the whole race quite cleanly.

«It's been better. After Friday's accident, my neck still hurts a little, but I coped with it, although it was not easy. It was especially difficult to defend against Sergio in the last laps when he was on Medium tires. Nevertheless, we managed to contain him – a good result, although it was not easy at all. 

Because of the heat and the tires, the race turned out to be difficult. The car was constantly sliding – we achieved the result we deserved. I think third place is a decent result, but we can do more» - Carlos Sainz (3rd).

Sergio Perez behaved with dignity during the race, because at some point he complained that he was losing power, but in the end he was able to earn good points, ending up in fourth place.

"We have a problem with the sensor. At that moment we lost about seven seconds in two laps. And after that, the race turned out to be bad. Even with DRS, I couldn't get close to Carlos. The loss in speed on the straights was very serious. I attacked very hard to stay close to him in the corners. My tires were overheating, so as soon as I got a chance to attack, I went into it. It was dirty outside the trajectory. And then I couldn't get any closer. 

We need to keep working, because every time there are different problems. Fortunately, we managed to finish the race. At some point, I think we were very close to going" - Checo Perez (4th).

Two Mercedes drivers were able to win big points, although both drivers started quite badly, losing several positions.

"To be honest, the feelings are ambiguous. Of course, if we remember what positions we were in yesterday, then fifth place is a good result. But if they had told me on Friday that we would finish in 5th and 6th places, and we would lose so much to the leaders, then I would have been upset.  

We have a fast car, but we haven't been able to unlock its potential, and we still don't understand why. In qualifying, the car was subject to rocking again, it happened unexpectedly, and I felt that if I went faster, I would get into an accident. 

Today the picture was not much better, but since the speed is still lower in the race, the aerodynamic body kit worked with less load. It's frustrating that we still haven't found a solution, but I have no doubt that we will find one. 

The duel with Lewis turned out to be quite good. Of course, when you fight with your teammate, you leave a little more space on the track, but aside from the trajectory, the asphalt is very dirty, and at some point I found myself outside the track, after which I was forced to return the position and start the attack from the beginning. I think Lewis and I showed mutual respect, but he was just unlucky, because he was riding on worn-out hard tires that had already covered more than 20 laps. There wasn't much he could do in this situation. 

But the race as a whole was very hard, hot, and sweat literally flooded my eyes. If we talk about the highway, I don't like the narrow and slow section, and I also don't like the quality of the asphalt. As for the pros, I liked both the city and the weather» - George Russell (5th).

"Definitely, after the contact on the first lap, the behavior of the car changed somewhat, and I am sure that the team will find out if this was due to any damage. Perhaps the car coped a little worse with turns, although in general everything was fine. 

I did everything I could, but unfortunately we didn't score that many points. It is necessary to accept such results. I'm not sure if I could have finished in a higher position if I had followed a different tactic. I don't know who is where on the track, so when the team offers me to make a choice myself, I answer that I don't have enough information to make a decision. 

It should be their decision, it's their job. The team has all the information at their disposal, in all the details, and I rely on them. But today they asked me to make my own decision, and I don't understand it. 

I was a little unlucky because of the appearance of a safety car on the track, but at least we earned points. In addition, there were no reliability problems. I will be glad if at some stage of the season we make a noticeable step forward, but so far this has not happened” - Lewis Hamilton (6th).

Valtteri Bottas is probably one of the contenders for the hero of this race.

He drove the whole race in 5th place, not letting anyone near him. Valtteri would have been able to get to the 5th place calmly, if not for the incident with him. 

During the departure to the starting straight, Bottas drove too wide, almost touching the wall, because of this he had to slow down and miss two Mercedes cars, but this did not prevent him from finishing the race in good points.

His partner, Guanyu Zhou, was not so lucky. During the race, he had to return to the pits due to a technical problem, which prevented him from finishing.

«I am happy with my performance, it was a strong race, although, in the end, we were punished by the time of the safety car. I controlled the gap from Lewis Hamilton, and a fifth-place finish was quite possible, but as soon as the safety car appeared, the gap disappeared, and George Russell on fresh tires was right behind us, so it would be difficult to hold the position.

I tried to slow down as late as possible, but I overdid it a bit and, unfortunately, the nature of the track in Miami means that if you deviate even a little from the trajectory, you start sliding towards the wall.

I was lucky that nothing broke in the car and I was able to continue the race. Nevertheless, we brought home some good points and we showed that we can fight on a par with everyone in the middle of the peloton. Everything is very close, and how we continue to develop will be important in order to stay ahead in this fight» - Valtteri Bottas (7th).

Two Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso had a great race, becoming 8 and 9 respectively. Fernando Alonso got off to a great start, becoming 7th when he started in 11th place.

Esteban Ocon, due to the severe consequences of the accident during practice, was unable to participate in qualifying, so he started in 18th place (ahead of the Aston Martin drivers), but was eventually able to reach the points. Despite Fernando's 5-second penalty due to a collision with Alfa Tauri driver Pierre Gasly, Alonso was able to earn points for the team. BUT The stewards found that the Alonso cut the track at turn 14 and thus gained a "long-term advantage". 

Getting five more penalty seconds led to the fact that in the final classification Alonso dropped from ninth place to 11th, passing ahead of Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll. At the same time, Alonso lost only one tenth of a second to the Canadian Aston Martin driver!

"What a race! Many thanks to the team for the hard work at night to restore the car after a severe accident on Saturday. The mechanics are the real stars of this weekend.  

I am glad that I earned a few points after starting from the last position. I am definitely happy with the result of the race, taking into account the problems on Saturday. The car was fast, the team developed an excellent strategy – we controlled the race and successfully completed an exciting first weekend in Miami. Now it is necessary to maintain the momentum gained in the next stage after returning to Europe” - Esteban Ocon (8th).

"I'm glad I'm back in the points today. At the start, I had some great overtaking and won back a few positions. I was a little unlucky with the time of the departure of the safety car, while it played into the hands of others. If it wasn't for the safety car, I would have competed for seventh or eighth place. 

I made a mistake when I tried to overtake Pierre Gasly – my fault, I apologize. Overall, we have a good racing pace. The race turned out to be physically difficult due to the heat and humidity. I think we deserved the points” - Fernando Alonso (was 9th, now 11th).

And now to the wonderful news, who would have thought that Williams' driver Alex Albon would be in 10th place! It's a great race for him and for the team, it's rare to see points from a team that is not able to fight with stronger cars. Congratulations!

His teammate Nicholas Latifi couldn’t earn points and the race itself was pretty bad for him.

"In the race we found the pace that I knew we had throughout the weekend. Qualifying turned out to be difficult, which meant that we were a little further from the positions we were supposed to take. But I knew we could make progress because overtaking was possible. We were a little lucky when some cars ahead of us got into incidents, but the main thing is that we were able to make the most of these opportunities. The team did a great job, especially with the strategy, and that's why it's very nice to leave Miami and earn points" - Alex Albon (was 10th, after Fernando’s penalty - 9th).

"On the one hand, it's very positive for the team to earn points thanks to Alex, especially after where we started from, but on the other hand we had too many problems. It was difficult and we had to deal with some of the issues that held us back in the early stages of the race, including tire problems and lack of pace, and we need to sort them out" - Nicolas Latifi (14th).

Two McLaren drivers failed to earn points today. Lando Norris was capable of this, because he was fast and drove close to the scoring zone, but an incident happened to him. Alfa Tauri driver Pierre Gasly drove off the track, skipped the Haas drivers and slowly returned to the track. Lando Norris began to overtake him on the left side, but Gasly did not see the McLaren driver and touched the front left wheel with the rear right wheel of the Lando. The driver himself was not injured, but upset with his race.

As well as his teammate Daniel Ricciardo with his 13th place, He was also close to points, but the speed of the car did not allow him to achieve more and in the end he finished only 11, later receiving a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage behind the track. Not the weekend from McLaren that we were waiting for after Lando Norris' podium at the last race. But we hope that they will come back

"The race was hard and hot. It's a pity that it ended so silly. I heard from someone that Gasly was going to leave the race altogether because of some problems - if this is really the case, then his actions were silly. After all, if you intend to get off, move aside, do not interfere with those who continue the race.  

However, he was looking in the right mirror, and he shifted to the left to the opposite side of the track. Of course, someone will say that I could have left him more space, but the same applies to him, because in the end everything ended in a collision.  

In general, this is most likely a racing incident. But, fortunately, we didn't lose that much – maybe one or two points, although it would have been better if we had earned those points. But sometimes it happens that way, so next time we have to try to perform better" - Lando Norris (DNF).

"It was an eventful race. I took part in several battles, and there were also some fun moments, but there was a feeling that we defended more than attacked. We tried our best to hold on. I think on Medium tyres we were able to go a long stretch at the beginning, but I'm not sure we were fast enough. But then on the Hard tires I just had problems.

Towards the end of the race, when the whole peleton was compacted, we simply could not fight with faster cars. So I fought hard and thought I was getting close to the points, but it wasn't enough. We will continue in the same spirit. I think this track played on a few of our weaknesses. There are a lot of long turns, a lot of long straights, so we need to work on that, and then hopefully Barcelona will suit our car better, so I'm looking forward to the next Grand Prix” - Daniel Ricciardo (13th).

"It's a shame. The race was going well until the contact with Alonso, in which my car was damaged. We tried to drive one more lap to see if we could continue the race and get to the end, but the car was too damaged.

On the way back to the pit lane, I had contact with Norris, I was trying to turn right and let the guys pass behind, and then Lando appeared, and unfortunately we collided.

I have to say that I am extremely disappointed because I had a great start, the race started perfectly. I overtook Lewis Hamilton at the start and expected to finish eighth... I had a great fight with Fernando, but I do not know why it ended this way. He hit me pretty hard from behind and my race was over. There were a lot of positive moments, but, of course, it's a shame not to finish the race” - Pierre Gasly (DNF).

The end of the race itself was pretty boring, but at one point we were able to see an accident between Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel and Haas driver Mick Schumacher. It was a huge opportunity for Mick Schumacher to earn his first career points, but unfortunately he crashed into Sebastian in the first corner, after which Vettel turned around.

«The car was fast today, I had my best race of the season – and I'm very upset that I couldn't keep the position. 

We always give our best, but it's very difficult to keep the car behind on fresher tires. It's a pity that the race ended this way. I was close to earning my first points. We'll have to wait a little longer» - Mick Schumacher (DNF).

"It's a pity that the weekend ended like this, we should have performed better. Before the race, we had a problem because of the fuel temperature, and this meant that we had to start from the pit lane.  

I drove most of the race in traffic, it was very difficult to overtake, and the DRS did not work efficiently enough. When a safety car appeared on the track, we moved into the top ten, but then there was contact between my car and Mick Schumacher's Haas, which made us both lose the opportunity to earn points” - Sebastian Vettel (DNF).