Max Verstappen celebrates win at Miami GP with Dan Marino as F1 finds new home in Florida
Max Verstappen stood atop the podium with a Miami Dolphins helmet raised above his head and Dan Marino, who had signed it, cheering him on. It was a scene only possible in the United States and it’s exactly what the Miami Grand Prix — and Formula One — promised to deliver with its first ever race in South Florida.
As Formula One tries to prove it can build up a fan base in the US and the Dolphins get ready to host a least a decade of races around Hard Rock Stadium, it was a moment of validation.
Verstappen, one of the biggest stars in the sport, won the race. The crowd, 85,000 strong, was locked in throughout the duration. Formula One, with soaring popularity stateside, found another American market where it can thrive.
“It was an incredible atmosphere and it was really incredibly well organized. It was really nice to see that. It’s not easy to put an event on like this,” said Verstappen, who has won 3 of 5 races this season. “They did an amazing job.”
What the race lacked in drama, it made up for in spectacle.
Celebrities swarmed the paddock area before the race — “It was crazy,” Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. said — and Dolphins roamed around the campus throughout the weekend. A fake marina with fake water stole the show on one end of the infield and a nonstop pool party entertained fans for three days on the other.
It culminated with Marino — Miami’s Pro Football Hall of Fame former quarterback — presenting a trophy to Verstappen, who has become one of the most famous athletes in the entire world over the last few years.
His race Sunday was a reminder why. Red Bull Racing’s 24-year-old Dutch started in third, moved up to second place in the opening seconds and took first place — almost for good — on the ninth lap. The only time he dropped out of first place for the rest of the race was when he stopped to pit and he passed Sainz after one lap.
Until the final 15 laps, he was cruising to victory. Only a crash on the 42nd lap added any intrigue as a safety car came out and let the field bunch up again. Verstappen’s lead was down from more than eight seconds to virtually nothing, but he fended off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to win by nearly four seconds.
Verstappen finished the 57 laps in 1:34:24.258, 3.786 seconds ahead of Leclerc and 8.229 ahead of Sainz. It was the 23rd win of his career — already tied for 12th most in Formula One history — puts him within 19 points of Leclerc for the top spot in the 2022 Formula One World Championship.
The top 10 drivers all scored points and were, in order: Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Mercedes’ George Russell, Hamilton, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon, Apine’s Fernando Alonso and Williams Grand Prix Engineering’s Alexander Albon.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, a fan favorite, finished 13th. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel — one of four former world champions in the field, along with Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso — did not finish.
Verstappen won his first world championship last year in controversial fashion, when a crash in the final race of the season let Verstappen close a massive gap on Mercedes-Benz’s Lewis Hamilton with one lap remaining.
The chaotic ending, when coupled with Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and an ESPN television deal, has helped Formula One (F1) boom in popularity in the USA.
“I was not very happy with that safety car, but of course fully understandable with what happened,” Verstappen said. “You cannot be too disappointed about it because also in the past it has benefited me in some other races.”
The appeal of the sport has been as much the personalities of the characters involved as the sport itself — the Netflix show is essentially a drama-filled reality show, in the vein of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” — and it meant there were fans of virtually every driver in the Miami Gardens crowd, even though none are American. F1 has a deep crossover appeal with both sports fans and those more interested in the spectacle, and the 2022 Miami Grand Prix (GP) delivered something for both.
The actual quality of the race, however, could have been better. Verstappen was on his way to an easy victory before McLaren’s Lando Norris spun out and the track conditions were — as can be expected for a first-time venue — imperfect.
All week long, drivers complained about slippery conditions and it was unchanged Sunday.
“It got worse and worse again,” Verstappen said. “We have good examples with new tracks where we had good tarmac, like Saudi actually it was pretty grippy, so they’ll look at that.”
The bigger sticking point was a chicane at turns 14 and 15, which Verstappen said was better suited for a “go-kart” track. There are logistical issues there — it’s the one stretch of track using public roads — but Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel said they’ll examine the issues and perhaps adjust in 2023.
“With this generation of cars that are heavy, that are wide — when you go around those two-way fixtures, it almost feels like you need a little bit of luck,” Sainz said. “It’s a corner that is a bit unnatural.”
The Miami GP will have plenty of time to get it right, though.
In Miami-Dade County, F1 is here to stay.
“It was incredible. It’s great to see how much interest the sport has picked up in the last few years,” Leclerc said. “It was amazing to be here.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 5:15 PM.
