SPRINT RACE
The three-time world champion gives no respite to the competition in the short race in Miami
04 mag 2024
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Everything as predicted: Max Verstappen vince a mani basse the Miami Sprint Race ahead of Charles Leclerc (‘+.3.371) who joined him on the front row. Final step of the podium for Sergio Perez with the other Red Bull (+5.095), while Carlos Sainz he has to settle for fifth place behind a superlative Daniel Ricciardo which stops only at the foot of the podium. Sixth position for Oscar Piastri with the only McLaren at the finish line (Lando Norris pushed out at the start by the Aston Martins of Alonso and Stroll). Good seventh – or rather, excellent – Nico Hulkenberg with the Haas ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who crosses the finish line behind Lewis Hamilton but takes the last point up for grabs thanks to a drive through given to Sir Lewis (speeding in the pits, in the end sixteenth), long in a duel with Kevin Magnussen, penalized by the Race Direction (track limits) and only eighteenth in the finishing order. Ninth and tenth Pierre Gasly e il local boy Logan Sargeant. Unfortunately for the Frenchman from Alpine and especially for the one from Fort Lauderdale (not far from Miami), the last two boxes of the top ten in the Sprint format do not award championship points, which both the blue team and the American Williams driver desperately need . He doesn’t go beyond fifteenth position Esteban Ocon, penalized for a slight contact with Leclerc’s Ferrari (unsafe release) in the pit lane in the pre-race procedure.
THE RACE REPORT
Verstappen fends off Leclerc’s attack as the traffic lights go out,
Norris out on the outside of the first corner: the Safety Car is immediately on track. What triggers the contact between the McLaren driver and Stroll’s Aston Martin is the other Aston of Alonso, in turn touched by Hamilton’s Mercedes, the furthest of all at the first braking point: a sort of domino that pays the price of which is Norris, who returns to the pits on foot. The Sprint restarts in full speed mode on the fourth of the nineteen laps scheduled with this classification
: Verstappen, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Perez, Sainz and Piastri. Seventh and eighth position for the two Haas-Ferraris of Hulkenberg and Magnussen. Hamilton and Tsunoda close the top ten.
Perez attacks and overtakes Ricciardo for third position on round six.
Central phase of the race without changes in position in the top ten
Hamilton hires Magnussen but the Dane responds blow for blow, also in the sense of a contact between the Haas and the Mercedes.
Sainz puts pressure on Ricciardo but the Australian doesn’t give up his fourth position. Hamilton investigated for speeding in the pits while passing under the Safety Car at the start of the race. In the meantime
Verstappen manages elastically (but without worries) a safety margin of a couple of seconds over Leclerc.
Hamilton tries again on Magnussen who accompanies him out,
Tsunoda takes advantage of this to slip in Sir Lewis. At least Magnussen is now behind both of them. Ten second penalty for… the intemperate Dane.
At the top there is no story:
Verstappen wins the Miami Sprint ahead of Leclerc and Perez.
At the foot of the podium a reborn Ricciardo who rejected the ambitions of Ferrari (Sainz) and McLaren (Piastri) until the last lap. Hulkenberg seventh ahead of Tsunoda who closes the points, reached extraordinarily by both Haas powered by Ferrari.
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