Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Miami Grand Prix
Photo by Peter Casey from USA Today Sports
The racing may not have been exciting, but the end result still left us with something very, very memorable.
Here are the winners and losers from the Miami Grand Prix.
Losers
5. Max Verstappen
It feels ridiculous to put Verstappen on the loser list, as he won the sprint race, got pole, and finished 2nd in the race.
But he did possibly damage his car by missing a corner, meaning he was unable to fight for the lead near the end of the race.
Maybe. Maybe his car was fine and he just finished second.
And if that’s the case, finishing 2nd is a case for being on the loser list for Max Verstappen.
4. Oscar Piastri
It was set up to be a great race for McLaren and Piastri, but Piastri was caught in an incident with Carlos Sainz which left him out of the points and with a terrible finish.
Tough, but that’s how it goes sometimes.
3. Carlos Sainz
And here, we have the man who damaged Piastri and lost some positions because of it.
5th is still a good result for Sainz, but it could’ve been better and, crucially for the constructors standings, in front of a Red Bull.
2. Logan Sargeant
The sprint race found Logan Sargeant in 10th place, which was an awesome result for the Florida native.
The race wasn’t going quite as well, but there was still about half the race left to make some noise.
Unfortunately, we never got to find out, due to Haas driver Kevin Magnussen punting Sargeant off the track and out of the race.
A disappointing end to what was a cool weekend for Sargeant.
1. Lance Stroll
DNF in the sprint.
17th in the race.
I don’t usually dive into the Lance Stroll memes, because when he is quick, he is REALLY quick.
But when he’s not? He straight up looks like he doesn’t belong the near the sport.
The highs and lows, I guess!
Winners
5. Daniel Ricciardo
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Qualifying and the race was bad.
But sprint qualifying and the sprint race had Ricciardo finish 4th and get a good chunk of points for RB.
Hey, it’s a win for them.
4. Yuki Tsunoda
But his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, got the last laugh.
After being vehemently defeated by Ricciardo in the sprint, Tsunoda demolished Ricciardo in the race, qualifying well and finishing 7th to get even more points for RB.
All in all, a good weekend for RB, even if it was up and down for the drivers.
3. Lewis Hamilton
Hamilton kept his Mercedes close to Sergio Perez’s Red Bull for the whole race.
Considering the pace differences between those cars, that in itself is a miracle.
2. Esteban Ocon
You know what else is a miracle?
Esteban Ocon getting points in the insanely slow Alpine car.
It was only one point, but that’s better than nothing!
It shows how much talent is on the grid, just stuck in poor machines.
1. Lando Norris
I never bought into the “Lando Norris chokes” belief that was going on.
And then, when Norris had a chance for sprint race pole, I watched him put in one of the worst first sectors I can remember seeing.
I finally started to think “Man, he really cracks under pressure.”
And then we got to the race on Sunday, where smart strategy from McLaren got Norris the lead.
It was cool, and I made the joke of “Well maybe this is the win!”, fully believing that Max Verstappen would easily pass him on the first lap and run away with the win.
But that’s not what happened.
Norris easily outpaced Verstappen through the last half of the race, and breezed to his first ever win without any incident.
It was an incredible drive, an incredible win, and an incredible moment for a driver who really needed it.
