The only question at Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, as usual, was not if Red Bull would win the race. It was which Red Bull would win the race.
Sergio Pérez led for a while. Then Max Verstappen. Then Pérez again. Then, finally, Verstappen. This has become, regular watchers of Formula 1 will tell you, how these things go nowadays.
The winner this week? Verstappen, who slipped past Pérez after a late pit stop to claim his third victory of the season. (Pérez has the other two; Red Bull has yet to lose this year.)
Verstappen’s victory, a satisfying one after a rare slip in qualifying left him far back on the starting grid, will carry beyond Sunday, as it allowed him to extend his lead over Pérez in the season points race.
But it also re-established him as the best driver on Formula 1’s best team, and the clear favorite to win the next time out, and the time after that, and the time after that.
“I made it hard on myself,” Verstappen said before the race, alluding to a rare error in qualifying that led to his starting ninth. “But we’re going to have a good day.”
For Red Bull, they are all good days this year.
Where the Race Turned
Laps 20 through 40. Pérez started fast and led for about 20 laps before pitting to get himself onto the same tires as Verstappen, who had torn through the field behind him to climb into second place. As soon as Pérez surrendered the lead to him, Verstappen sprinted away: At one point he had opened a lead of nearly 20 seconds on the rest of the field.
Of course, Verstappen finally had to pit, too. But his lead was so large by then that when he emerged, on the 46th of 57 laps, he did so with fresh tires and a clear line on Pérez, only a few yards ahead. It took Verstappen less than two laps to sprint around his teammate, and that was that.
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