The start
Before the start of the race both Aston Martins did not arrive on the grid as both cars had a fuel problem and were not able to take their place on the grid as both started from the pit lane.
The lights went out and Leclerc got away well but his teammate on the other hand, Carlos Sainz, was already under pressure from the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen. The Dutchman went for a move around the outside of turn 1 and 2 and moved himself into P2.
Both Mercedes drivers got a poor start with Lewis Hamilton dropping down to P8 from his P6 grid position. George Russell in the other Mercedes dropped to P12 from P15 as he struggled to warm his hard compound tyres.
As Hamilton started to drop down the order, Alonso went for a move for P7 on Hamilton after his mistake at Turn 1 but in doing so, he hit the rear tyre of the Mercedes and managed to get himself past his former McLaren teammate.
Lewis believed for a few laps he had damage in the opening laps but it is unclear if he had damage or not. By lap 6, Hamilton was back up to P6 after overtaking Gasly for the position.
Perez’s Problems
Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, was running close to the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz until on lap 20, Perez reported a loss of power to his Red Bull team. Despite this, they reported back to their driver that they couldn‘t see a problem but Perez quickly reinstated his claim as there was a definite problem.
Red Bull told Perez a few laps later “Fail 5-0” which is a sensor issue and told him the power until was fine. However, Perez was down on power throughout the race.
Norris Disaster
Lando Norris was running P9 before he pitted on lap 19 for new hard tyres. When he exited the pits, he struggled for pace and was stuck behind the 2 Aston Martin‘s for many laps.
Once he overtook the 2 Aston Martin drivers, Norris set his sights on Pierre Gasly on lap 41 who made 2 costly mistakes in P11 dropping to P13 as a result. When Norris went to overtake the Frenchman on the straight, he went slightly left and collected Norris’ rear right wheel which sent the tyre flying off the car.
Norris stopped the car immediately, which brought out the safety car, but Gasly was able to keep going until lap 47 when he retired due to damage.
Red Bull Versus Ferrari
As a result of the safety car, Perez was able to put for mediums so he could attack Sainz despite being down on power. The safety car also allowed Leclerc to have another go at Verstappen as the drivers had been brought back together.
Once the safety car came in on lap 47, Leclerc was able to stay within 1 second of Verstappen and was very close to the Red Bull in sector 1 but unfortunately for him, could not get a move done. On lap 52, Perez made a move on Sainz but heavily out braked himself at turn 1 and allowed Sainz to keep his position.
Chequered Flag
Max Verstappen managed to defend Leclerc for the rest of the race to win once more at the first Miami Grand Prix. Verstappen has continued his statistic of winning every race that he has finished.
George Russell pitted under safety car to finish in front of Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Albon achieved P9 and Stroll P10 after Alonso received a penalty after the race to drop him out of the points.