Max Verstappen produced another masterclass to claim victory from ninth on the grid at the Miami Grand Prix.
The reigning champion superbly made his way through the field in the early laps and made his hard tyres last in an epic first stint before making the race-winning move on Sergio Perez shortly after his only pit-stop.
Perez had no answer to the speed of his Red Bull teammate as he had to settle for second, ahead of Fernando Alonso in a strong third for Aston Martin.
Race Review
Perez held the lead from pole at the start as the top three got ahead in formation, while Pierre Gasly and George Russell demoted Kevin Magnussen down to sixth.
Verstappen lost a place initially at the start from P9, but soon began to make progress passing Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas in short order.
Further down, Lewis Hamilton remained 13th as Oscar Piastri made the most places with five on the opening lap thanks to some soft tyres.
Verstappen continued to gain places, making a brilliant double pass on Magnussen and Charles Leclerc down the pit straight to move into sixth.
LAP 4/57
WHAT A MOVE FROM VERSTAPPEN!
He pounces on the duelling Leclerc and Magnussen, and takes both of them, moving up to P6 from his P9 grid slot ⚔️#MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/dKmu7IoAOj
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2023
Next up was Russell, with the Dutchman delivering a bold move under braking into Turn 17 to clear the Mercedes.
Gasly was Verstappen’s next victim a lap later at the same corner to take P4, with Russell immediately capitalising on the compromised Alpine to overtake for P5 into Turn 1.
A few laps later, Verstappen was battling for the podium with two clean moves on Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso to take second with only a three-second deficit to Perez in the lead.
Behind, the pit-stop phase began with Russell, Gasly and the Ferraris among the first to pit after starting on the mediums tyres.
Perez stopped at the end of Lap 20, giving Verstappen, who ran the hard compound for the first stint, the lead.
Alonso ran longer on his medium tyres than anyone else before pitting for hards on Lap 25 and used his fresher tyres to overhaul Sainz in the battle for third.
The Ferrari driver’s podium chances were further hampered by a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.
One driver on the move was Russell as he caught and passed teammate Hamilton and Ocon, who were running old hards, before sweeping past Sainz to run fourth as the Briton showed strong pace.
Ahead, fastest laps ebbed and flowed between the two Red Bulls at the front, with Verstappen pushing to create enough of a margin to pit and resume ahead of his teammate.
Max finally stopped on Lap 45, switching to medium tyres and coming out just over a second behind teammate Perez in second.
On the fresh tyres, Checo defended fairly but was ultimately powerless to stop Verstappen from passing into Turn 1 to take the lead.
LAP 47/57
WHEEL-TO-WHEEL!
Verstappen seizes the lead from team mate Perez at Turn 1 ⚔️#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ENxOTFa8L9
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2023
From there it was a cruise to the finish as Verstappen claimed victory and Red Bull secured their fourth one-two of the season.
Alonso had a lonely run to third for Aston Martin followed by Russell in fourth. Sainz was fifth, with Hamilton producing some late moves to claim sixth.
Leclerc was seventh after a difficult race as Gasly rued traffic after his pit-stop and dropped to eighth in the closing laps.
Ocon took ninth in the second Alpine with Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10 for Haas.
Full results from the Miami GP can be seen below!
? CLASSIFICATION (LAP 57/57) ?
How we crossed the line in Miami Gardens ?#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/vdEBuVIH3h
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2023