A Floridian, an aging legend and a teammate: Can anyone topple Max Verstappen at Miami?
At the end of the third and final practice session Saturday ahead of the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen seemed unbeatable.
He completed his fastest lap around the 3.363-mile Miami International Autodrome in just 1:27.535 — nearly half a second faster than any of the other 19 drivers in the field — after also running the fastest lap in the second practice session Friday.
There was only one problem: Qualifying got cut short after Charles Leclerc crashed; Verstappen will start ninth with Sergei Perez instead sitting on the pole; the Belgian superstar will have a long climb to defend his title at the Miami Grand Prix.
“I haven’t had a straightforward weekend, so it tastes a lot better once you deliver,” said Perez, who’s Verstappen’s teammate with Red Bull Racing. “It’s a very long race and still a lot can happen tomorrow.”
Even so, Verstappen is still the driver to beat. Verstappen, who drives the No. 1 car for Red Bull, has won 17 of the last 22 Formula One grands prix — including 2 of 4 to start the 2023 Formula One World Championship — and entered the weekend as the massive favorite to win another Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The 25-year-old has won back-to-back world championships, finished first or second in every grand prix so far this season and is the only driver with a victory in South Florida after winning in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix (GP) last year.
Still, three names — a living legend, the first American in Formula One (F1) in eight years and Verstappen’s own teammate — will provide additional intrigue at the Miami GP.
Red Bull boasts top 2
To find his toughest challenger right now, Verstappen doesn’t even have to leave his team’s garage.
Perez, who drives the No. 11 for Red Bull, is the only driver other than Verstappen to win a race this year and enters the Miami GP six points behind his teammate in the season standings.
Verstappen began the week as a -225 favorite at the Miami GP, according to Caesars Entertainment, and Perez is the top challenger at +275. Everyone else has odds of +1400 or longer.
“We have a very quick car, so it’s quite normal that it’s between the two of us,” Verstappen said Thursday. “We have a good understanding, good relationship, so I think what we want to focus on, I think, is just to try and make the car better, and faster to try and stay ahead of everyone else. That’s the main objective and then the rest you will do on the track, anyway.”
England’s Lewis Hamilton keeps pushing
As much as a gap as there is between Verstappen and the rest of F1 right now, there’s still no question about who the biggest star in the sport — at least in the United States — is right now.
Anywhere Lewis Hamilton goes around Hard Rock Stadium, cameras and crowds follow.
The 37-year-old, who drives the No. 44 for Mercedes-Benz in Formula One, is a seven-time world champion, but hasn’t won a race since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix — the penultimate race of the controversial 2021 Formula One World Championship.
A week later, Verstappen edged out Hamilton at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to steal the world title after race officials misapplied the rules to let Verstappen make up significant ground during a restart. Hamilton hasn’t won a grand prix since and Verstappen has ascended to become the premier driver in the sport.
Hamilton’s success, along with the fact he’s the only Black driver in F1 and probably its most outspoken, made him a star in the US long before Netflix’s “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” led to his sport’s boom in popularity five years ago. He was long an advocate for this Miami race and he’s one of the closest things there is to a fan favorite here.
South Florida’s own driver debuts
The only thing closer might be Logan Sargeant.
Although he hasn’t finished higher than 12th yet in his extremely brief F1 career, Sargeant has the potential to become one of the biggest stars in the sport for one simple reason: He’s the first American in F1 since 2015.
There would be no better time for him to break out than this weekend. Sargeant, who drives the No. 2 for Williams Grand Prix Engineering, is from Fort Lauderdale, and grew up kart racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead before his family relocated to Europe when he was 12 so he and his older brother could try to break into Formula racing. Dalton Sargeant eventually came back to the US and spent three years on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but his younger brother stayed abroad and finally is in his debut season in F1.
In his first four races, the 22-year-old has finished 16th three times and 12th once. He’s trying to score points for the first time in his career this weekend and do it in front of a friendly hometown crowd.
“I’m excited for this weekend,” Sargeant said. “It’s nice to be back in my well known climate, which is extremely hot, but it’s going to be a tough weekend. Not knowing the track, it’s a big hurdle to climb, but, yeah, I’m excited.
This story was originally published May 6, 2023 at 5:36 PM.
