Storms were predicted for the race but came overnight, leaving gusty winds behind them, which the drivers managed well. Nothing could have been greyer than the driver presentation by LL Cool J...Sargeant came out first and waved well. De Vries could not have been more awkward. We couldn't hear the crowd cheering on the TV coverage, presuming they were, which also made it even more bizarre. The rapper's introductions were very Netflix but assuming no one has ever heard of any racer before. LL Cool J appeared to have been given every failure to read out loud: "contending the championship in 2021". The omissions shouted loudly. Everyone looked embarrassed from the drivers to the classical musicians.
Pretty much all the cars got away cleanly at the start. De Vries hit Norris so they went to the back of the grid with Piastri actually doing well. Alonso made a mediocre start but the top three held their places with Gasly and Russell moving forwards. Sargeant pitted on Lap 3 for a new nose; we never found out why.
As Magnussen and LeClerc battled each other, Verstappen overtook them both on the straight. By Lap 10, he was in 4th place, just outside the podium. Four laps later, he was past Sainz in 3rd and on the back of Alonso and was past him on the next lap. Magnussen made an early stop who triggered Gasly and then a number of others, whilst Alonso and Perez were wondering whether they could eek the tyres out longer.
Sainz pitted to undercut Alonso and came out charging. His pace completely overshadowed his team mate. However, it was then revealed that he had speeded in the pit lane and was given a 5 second penalty. Halfway through, Hamilton was asked to let Russell by...another sign he's heading for retirement. Very little was made of Russell's pass on Sainz for 4th. Although Hamilton overtaking LeClerc was noted.
Verstappen made his only pit stop with ten laps to go and was out right behind his team mate. The battle for the lead of the race started at last. With DRS it was an easy pass on the second attempt. They looked mindful of taking each other out. Perez needed to keep with him to get a DRS pass himself but was unable to do so. Verstappen drove the race of a champion calling it "simply f**king lovely". Magnussen was able to keep his Haas in the top ten for one point.
Alonso was surprised that he didn't have to fight for his third place. There was a fair bit of overtaking, despite worries about the shortened DRS zones. And no Red Flags, Safety Cars or even Virtual Safety Cars.
I'm not sure how they printed up the winner's NFL jerseys so quickly but they were waiting in the stadium for them. Verstappen has now won all the Miami Grand Prix and can probably keep go for many years to come. Alonso grinning through the pain as Perez asked Verstappen: "What lap you got him?"
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