After Sergio Perez cut into Red Bull Racing teammate Max Verstappen’s points lead with a win in Azerbaijan last week, it looked to be a turn of the tide.
Perez, only six points back of Verstappen, started on pole for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix. However, after leading the first half of the event at the Miami International Autodrome, Verstappen began to close with a medium-hard tire strategy.
With 10 laps to go, Verstappen cleared Perez en route to winning for the third time this season.
“It was a good race,” said race winner Verstappen. “I stayed out of trouble at the beginning and then just had a clean race, picked the cars off one by one. Then I could stay out really long on the hard tires and that’s where I think we made the difference today.
“I had a good little battle with Checo at the end. We kept it clean and that’s the most important – it’s a great win today. Yesterday was of course a bit of a setback, today we just kept it calm, kept it clean, and for sure winning a race from P9 is always very satisfying.”
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso notched the final podium position in third. George Russell led the Mercedes duo in fourth, followed by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fifth.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton ended his day in sixth with Charles Leclerc following in seventh.
It was a stellar day for Alpine after the team scored double points with Pierre Gasly leading the charge in eighth ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon in ninth.
The final points position went to Haas F-1’s Kevin Magnussen in 10th.
Heading into the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks, Verstappen leads Perez in the driver’s standings by 14 points.