As we approach the first time since its inaugural event that Max Verstappen does not hold the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship lead going into a F1 Miami Grand Prix, it is interesting to look back on what happened last time this was the case at the 2022, and first, Miami GP.
After five races into the 2025 F1 season, Verstappen is currently third in the Drivers’ Championship on 87 points, 12 points off leading driver Oscar Piastri. He led the championship with 93 and 110 points respectively going into the 2023 and 2024 Miami GPs.
Going into the 2022 Miami GP, it was the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc that led the way after the opening four rounds had left him with two wins and three podium finishes. The Monegasque driver was on 86 points and 27 points ahead of the Dutchman in second.
The Miami International Autodrome hosted round five of the 2022 F1 season, and as Leclerc and Verstappen battled for the top spot in the championship, the Miami Gardens crowd prepared to witness a thrilling inaugural event.
Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton against the FIA
When F1 announced Miami would join the calendar, many anticipated razmatazz, celebrities, and intense high-speed action. But, in the build-up to the opening event in Florida, it was F1’s governing body the FIA that were at the forefront once again.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton turned up to Thursday’s press conference wearing excessive amounts of jewellery and called on the FIA to stop the banning of drivers from wearing body piercings or neck chains in their cars.
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel joined Hamilton’s protest, briefly wearing underpants over his race overalls in response to the FIA’s clampdown on drivers wearing non-regulation underwear or jewelry during sessions.
The German also sported a T-shirt raising awareness over rising sea levels in the Florida area with ‘Miami 2060’ and an underwater crash helmet logo designed on the front of it. Vettel continually campaigns on environmental and human rights issues to this day.
Drivers struggling to get use to the Miami heat
World Champion Verstappen was one of many drivers to suffer in practice with overheating and reliability issues as his Friday running was marred by a gearbox change followed by a hydraulics problem. His RB18 did not top any of the event’s opening practice sessions.
Across Friday and Saturday, there was a crash in each of the three practice sessions. Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo found the barrier at Turn Seven in Free Practice 1 as he lost the rear and curtailed his Friday running. Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine both crashed at the already infamous Turn 14 in free practice’s two and three respectively.
Ocon crashed with significant damage on Saturday morning, which prevented him from taking part in qualifying; race stewards permitted him to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.
Miami turns red
In Miami’s first qualifying session, Charles Leclerc bagged pole position ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz as Ferrari continued their strong start to the new regulations by securing their first front-row lockout since the 2019 F1 Mexican Grand Prix.
Verstappen had to settle for third on the grid in his Red Bull as he lost the car at Turn Five on his final push lap in Q3 which he blamed on a lack of track knowledge due to the shortcomings he faced in Friday’s practice sessions.
Former Mercedes teammates Bottas and Hamilton secured fifth and sixth on the grid respectively, lining up together on the third row, while Hamilton’s new teammate George Russell failed to progress past Q2 and qualified 12th.
The two Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Vettel qualified in 10th and 13th respectively but would start from the pit lane after a fuel temperature problem was discovered by the team.
Verstappen surges forward
When the lights went out on Sunday afternoon for the inaugural Miami GP it was Leclerc and Verstappen that got great launches off the line as the Dutchman passed Sainz’s Ferrari to leave the top two in the championship at the front of the field.
Further back, Hamilton had a tricky opening lap as he locked up his front-right tyre at Turn One, and Fernando Alonso, one of his former rivals, hit him in the rear at the following corner. However, the Briton suffered no damage and on lap three re-passed Alonso’s Alpine for seventh.
At the end of lap eight, Verstappen was within two tenths of the race leader Leclerc and subsequently breezed past the Ferrari with DRS down the start-finish straight to take the lead of the race.
New track accidents
The race tempered down through the first pit stop phases and into the second half of the race until lap 39 when Alonso and Gasly collided at Turn One as the Alpine looked for a move up the inside, but Gasly closed the door, and the Spaniard locked up causing contact.
However, Gasly was involved in a more significant accident on lap 41 as his front-left tyre collided with Lando Norris’ rear-right tyre on the exit of Turn Eight which sent the McLaren spinning without a tyre. Norris retired from the race on the spot and the safety car was called out with 17 laps to go.
Late race combat
The race went green again at the start of lap 47 as Sergio Perez on the medium tyres challenged Sainz on the hard tyres for the remaining podium position, but the Spaniard held off the Mexican to remain in third.
Two laps later, it was a battle of current and former Mercedes teammates as Hamilton and Russell, who made a pit-stop during the safety car, contested sixth, but Bottas ahead of them went deep into Turn 17 which allowed both Mercedes through and demoted the Alfa Romeo to seventh. Russell on those fresher tyres later overtook Hamilton for fifth.
On lap 52, Perez was pressurising Sainz once again and made a late move into Turn One but out-broke himself and the Ferrari kept the position.
With just under four laps to go, two great friends Vettel and Mick Schumacher crashed at Turn One which broke the Haas’s front-wing and spun the Aston Martin around. They were both running in the points and Schumacher was denied his first ever career points.
Verstappen finishes first once again
Since lap nine where he passed Leclerc for the lead, Verstappen dominated the inaugural Miami GP and crossed the line at the end of lap 57 to claim his first back-to-back victories of 2022. The result continued the Dutchman’s trend in that every race he had finished, up to that point, he had won as he did not finish in Bahrain or Melbourne but won in Jeddah and Imola.
The two Ferraris completed the podium with the championship leader achieving damage limitation in second as Verstappen closed the gap to 19 points. Leclerc’s second place was his first podium in the United States.
At the walls of the Hard Rock Stadium, the three drivers arrived on the podium suiting American football helmets in homage of the Miami Dolphins.
Verstappen and Leclerc’s post-race reviews
In the FIA post-race press conference, Verstappen said: “It’s a very good comeback. I didn’t even do a start. So I didn’t know what to expect in the actual start. But we had a good launch. And I saw the opportunity to go around the outside in Turn 1 so I tried. And luckily, it worked.
“Once I got ahead, I think that basically made my race, because I opened up the gap. And once we did the pit stop and put the hard tyre on we were actually very closely matched in pace.
“I was not very happy with that Safety Car, but of course, fully understandable with what happened. I think you cannot be too disappointed about it. Because also in the past it has benefited me in some other races.”
Verstappen on the physicality of the new circuit in comparison with the likes of the F1 Singapore Grand Prix: “Yeah, pretty similar. It’s very hot in Sector 2. And because this is a day race, with the sun out there, it makes it really hot. I was very happy once we always got to the straight because that gave you a bit of air.”
When Leclerc was asked in the same press conference about the biggest differences between the Red Bull and the Ferrari, Verstappen joked: “The colour!”
Leclerc added: “Yeah, the colour. The straight-line speed also a little bit. But again, I think it’s just the characteristics of both cars. Red Bull are quite quick in a straight; we are quite quick in the medium and high speed – but today I have to say that I was quite surprised that we were struggling quite a bit more than them in the slow speed corners.”
