Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Miami Grand Prix

Photo by Brian Snyder from Reuters

After a boring race at Imola (where I didn’t write because I was on vacation) we returned with another not so very exciting race in Miami!

And the next two races are Spain and Monaco!

Yaaaaay…

Here are the winners and losers from the Miami Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Lando Norris

Unfortunately, there was nothing Lando could do in regards to his accident with Pierre Gasly.

As he tried to pass the breaking Alpha Tauri, the two collided and ripped the wheel off of Lando’s car.

Not his fault, but a tough weekend for the young Brit.

4. Pierre Gasly

Gasly gets more of the blame due to him being the one who was breaking down and going to retire the car.

Maybe he was still trying to push. Maybe he just didn’t notice Lando coming on his left.

Regardless, the accident was avoidable.

3. Daniel Ricciardo

Ricciardo had an abysmal qualifying after promising practice sessions, and was actually on for a good race result all things considered.

But costly mistakes near the end found him outside of the points looking in.

He was still higher up the grid for most of the race than his teammate, however. So he can have that as a positive.

Even if it’s a small one.

2. Fernando Alonso

Fernando is getting schooled by his teammate Esteban Ocon right now.

Most of the time this year, it actually hasn’t been his fault.

On Sunday, however, it was.

The two time world champion was on for a points finish before a second offence of leaving the track to gain an advantage found him with a 5 second time penalty and finishing outside of the points.

We’ll talk about his teammate a bit later.

1. Mick Schumacher

Heartbreaking.

Mick Schumacher was on par for his first points in Formula 1, at an American race and for an American team. It was so fitting.

And at the very end, he threw it away with a careless accident against none other than Sebastian Vettel, his mentor and very good friend.

It was heartbreaking for everyone, including Mick himself who sounded devastated on the radio after what had happened.

He has showed so far this year that he can get points, but it’s starting to become the time where he actually gets them.

Winners

5. Carlos Sainz

Ironically, the move here that put Carlos on the winners list was giving up the space to Verstappen on the opening lap.

That may seem wrong, but after two first lap incidents in the last two races that ruined Sainz’s races, just staying in the race and competing for good points was a great move.

And it paid off. The Spaniard finished 3rd and got back on the podium.

It’s not cutthroat, but when you’re on a string of bad luck you just need to get a good result.

4. Valtteri Bottas

Bottas would be higher on this list if he kept himself ahead of both Mercedes’ drivers.

Unfortunately, he scraped the wall and lost 5th to end up in 7th.

Still, it was going to be another fantastic result for the Finnish driver, who is proving many people who doubted him wrong.

3. Max Verstappen

A mistake in qualifying cost Verstappen pole position when it was clear Red Bull was the faster car.

A younger Verstappen may have been frustrated and pushed too hard and made mistakes in the race to make up for his mistakes.

Hell, even in Saudi Arabia last year he was reckless trying to get to the front.

But yesterday, he stayed very calm.

A great start found him get past Sainz, followed by a well thought out attack on Leclerc to take the lead and sail off into the sunset.

Verstappen has won every race he has finished this year (which is a little bit misleading considering he wasn’t going to win in Bahrain or Australia even before his engine failed).

2. Alex Albon

Albon without the pressure of being at a top team is showing more and more why he is such a great driver.

The Williams is arguably the worst car on the grid (even if it’s not as bad as years past compared to the other teams) and for the second time in three races, Albon found his way into the points.

10th in Australia and 9th in Miami.

It’s been a great start for Albon.

1. Esteban Ocon

A crash in practice on Saturday meant Ocon could not compete in qualifying, so he started dead last.

Didn’t matter one bit.

Ocon had a fantastic race and a flawless strategy to go from dead last on the grid to finish 8th, ahead of his teammate even before Alonso’s penalties.

Ocon currently has 24 points compared to Alonso’s 2.

Again, a lot of Alonso’s struggles have come from a broken down car, but Ocon is having a great season compared to one of the best drivers of this generation.