LIVE: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started ninth in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, ran well ahead of the pack at halftime. His teammate Sergio Pérez, who pitted to change tires while Verstappen continued, is second. Check for updates again.
So now it’s a two horse race. Or a two bull race. What ever.
Sergio Pérez’s win last weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan, was his second of the Formula One season and allowed him to equal the win total of his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. More important? The result allowed Pérez to cut Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship to just six points when the series headed to the United States for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
Since the only certainty in Formula 1 at the moment seems to be that a Red Bull finishes first, a decisive moment is imminent every week. Pérez starts Sunday with an advantage: He’s on pole position and knows that a win will give him the lead in the points race. Verstappen, certainly boiling after ninth qualifying, will try to reassert himself. Driving angry seems to suit the reigning world champion, but weaving through the peloton – which he did impressively in March in Saudi Arabia – is inherently dangerous.
Buckle up.
how to watch
TV: The race will be broadcast on ABC in the US. Not in America? For a full list of Formula 1 channels, no matter where you are, click here.
Starting lineup on Sunday
A Red Bull starts first, but maybe not the one you expected? Pérez was fastest in qualifying and he is joined on the front row by Aston Martin’s relentless (and apparently ageless) Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen will start ninth but he’s already moved up from 15th to second in a race this year so don’t count him out. Lewis Hamilton fared even worse: he should start 13th.
Race week in Miami in photos
Sunday stories
Red Bull vs Red Bull. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has done nothing to stop his two drivers, Pérez and Verstappen, from battling to be the fastest driver each week. So far, that brings wins and little friction. “They know how we work as a team: they get the chance, they get the chance to compete,” Horner said in an interview with ESPN this week. “But at the same time they have to respect the team.” Today could offer the first test of that hands-off management: a hot day, a tight track, a champion (Verstappen) on the hunt. For now, Horner’s focus is on scoring as many points as possible, extending the lead before other teams do better. Two riders way ahead of the field? “It’s a luxury problem,” he said.
Predictability. Four races. Four Red Bull victories. Three 1-2 finishes. Is Formula 1 getting boring? This week there was renewed debate as to whether the dominance of Red Bull’s cars spoiled everyone else’s fun. Mercedes’ George Russell, who declared at the first race of the season that Red Bull had “stitched this championship”, hinted that the only real competition these days is the fight for third place. Was he right? “I’ll do my best not to get bored, but in the end it’s a sport,” said Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. “It’s like any sport. Sometimes one team is just better than another. And at the moment it is the case with Red Bull.”
Weather? There is a chance of rain in Sunday’s forecast which, if it does, could play a big role at a track that has been resurfaced ahead of this year’s race. Verstappen lost a good qualifying lap after a slip in a corner took him a tiny bit wide, which prompted a bit expressive self-criticism. Leclerc twice crashed into the wall after pushing his Ferrari too hard, prompting swearwords from many (including Verstappen, as the red flag that followed Leclerc’s crash on Saturday prevented Verstappen from making a final challenge for pole position ). Qualifying showed that drivers who stuck to the ideal line were rewarded for it. Grip was far less secure outside of that. A wet track – or even a bit of wind – isn’t going to make it any better.
“The car isn’t fast enough and we have no idea why that is.” – Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff saying the quiet part out loud.
last time out
Sergio Pérez won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last week, the fourth win for Red Bull in four races and the third one-two for the dominant Formula 1 team this season.
Driver standings ranking
Red Bull’s only race at this point is against itself:
next race
May 21: The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, the first of Formula 1’s two stages in Italy, will be held at the famous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola.