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The Miami GP was tough for a lot of drivers. The heat was stifling and the conditions were challenging. Despite this, the race turned out to be engaging. It featured a nice battle for the lead up front and numerous other interesting battles in the midfield as well.
As is the case after every race, there were a few that left Miami happy, while others left the city disappointed. Let's take a look at some of the winners and losers of the inaugural 2022 Miami GP.
2022 F1 Miami GP: Winners and Losers
Winner
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen was not happy on Saturday after he lost out to the Ferrari drivers in qualifying. Furthermore, the Red Bull driver was tired of losing out on valuable track time due to the car's reliability issues.
On Sunday, however, none of these things seemed to bother Verstappen too much. He possessed the speed to keep Charles Leclerc within his sights and to overtake him when the time came. In the end, Max Verstappen reduced the gap to Leclerc in the Driver Standings to less than 20 points, breathing new life into the championship fight.
If the Dutch driver can keep his impeccable form, Ferrari will start feeling the heat sooner than they would like to.
Loser
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton was in a buoyant mood on Saturday and said that he had been able to extract the most out of his car in qualifying. On Sunday, following a bad start, Hamilton made his way through the field and was on course to beat his teammate George Russell.
However, a late safety car turned the race upside down and dropped Russell, who was on much fresher medium tires, right behind Hamilton. The seven-time world champion was a sitting duck with his old hard tires and ended up losing a position to Russell due to a bad strategy call.
These mini-battles between the teammates are slowly starting to have an impact on Hamilton, what with Russell consistently getting the better of him in the last few races.
Winner
George Russell
George Russell is an exceptional driver and it is starting to show. The young Mercedes driver tried not to ruffle too many feathers when he first joined the team. He even termed Hamilton as the "leader" and said that he wanted to learn as much as he could from his legendary teammate.
Five races into the season and Russell has beaten Hamilton in four consecutive races and has built a healthy gap between himself and his teammate in the 2022 Driver Standings. Russell is doing exactly what he needs to be doing in a Mercedes and, slowly but steadily, this is starting to turn many heads in the paddock.
Loser
Mick Schumacher-Sebastian Vettel duo
Both Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel were on course to haul good points for their respective teams. Looking at where they started in the race, the result should have been termed a success; however, towards the end of the race, in a battle for the final points positions, Mick went for a rather impetuous move on Vettel and both paid the price for it.
In a season where both drivers are under extreme pressure to perform, this incident was the last thing either of them needed.
Winner
Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon hasn't often been under the spotlight this season, but if one were to look at the Driver Standings, one would see him 22 points clear of his teammate Fernando Alonso. His error in FP3 on Saturday, which ruined his qualifying, should have kept him from scoring points in the race, but Ocon was not having it.
The French driver stayed calm during the race and took utmost advantage of the safety car, which, ultimately, saw him finishing ahead of his teammate yet again. That's 24 points for Ocon in the championship compared to just 2 points for Alonso.
Loser
McLaren
McLaren's targets for this season do not involve spending its races in the heart of the midfield. The Imola GP was a memorable race for the team, where it arguably had the third-fastest car on the grid. In the Miami GP, however, McLaren was absolutely nowhere to be found. Norris was almost a second slower than Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton was running in front of him.
At Miami GP, McLaren got exposed as the car was only 5th or 6th fastest on the grid at best.
Catch the teams and drivers in two weeks' time at the Spanish GP.
