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The fifth round of the 2023 F1 season started off with quite an unexpected grid, with the top 6 drivers coming from six different teams, led by Sergio Perez.
However, despite Max Verstappen's P9 starting position, the Dutchman managed to take the lead, ahead of his teammate, and further extend his lead in the championship. 14 points currently separate the two Red Bull drivers in favor of Verstappen.
Pole sitter Sergio Perez finished second, while Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso drove a rather lonely race and took up the final step of the podium. Alonso further strengthened his third-place position in the driver's standings.
Further down the grid, Mercedes had quite a surprising result with George Russell finishing in P4 ahead of Carlos Sainz. This was on a weekend where the Silver Arrows were visibly struggling.
The Briton was heard singing out of joy on the team radio when he made an impressive move on the Ferrari driver. The latter finished ahead of the second Mercedes of eight-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton. With this, Russell has overtaken Leclerc in the drivers' standings.
In a post-race media interaction, Russell revealed that "P4 was the maximum" that the team could have hoped for this weekend in Miami.
"I am feeling pumped to be honest because it has been a while since we had a good race like that where we made overtakes stick. The pace, relatively speaking, was strong, and I felt good in the car, so for sure it was a satisfying one.
"I would have liked to have been three positions higher but we know the position we are as a team right now and P4 was the maximum today. It was a good day at the office and will sit down with everybody tomorrow to see how we can move from here."
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc had a rather tough day on track today but made a decent recovery to finish seventh in the F1 Miami Grand Prix. He beautifully managed the tires over the course of the first half to make some crucial overtakes, and secured a reasonable result this afternoon.
Both Alpines, who have certainly struggled so far this season, enjoyed top 10 finishes ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
McLaren had a particularly disappointing weekend. Not only did both cars start the race from the bottom five, but they also remained outside the top 10 over the course of the race.
Alfa Romeo, Williams, and AlphaTauri, too, all failed to score F1 championship points this weekend.
2023 season rookie Logan Sargeant would have hoped to put on quite a show for his home crowd but unfortunately, finished last in the race.
2023 F1 Driver Standings after the Miami GP
