Christian Horner: "Another fantastic performance from the Team. It was a big win for the second time here in Miami, our 5th victory and our 4th 1-2 of the year - all from 1st and 9th on the grid - a huge performance. Max starting on the hard tyre was a risk. Our simulators were telling us it would prove a slower race than on the mediums. He wanted to take that chance and he made it work, particularly from lap 20 to lap 42. His pace on that worn tyre was superior. He was able to match and sometimes better Checo's pace. Sergio drove a brilliant race and he knew that 19.8 was the magic number to keep Max behind, but with Max then switching to the softs, with the extra grip and the phenomenal pace he has been carrying all weekend, he was away. The two of them raced hard and raced fairly which is what we asked of them. They both gave it their all as did everyone both here and back at Milton Keynes. It was a fantastic Team effort."
This was not the easiest of Sundays for Scuderia Ferrari, which comes away from the United States with a fifth place for Carlos Sainz and a seventh for Charles Leclerc at the end of a Miami Grand Prix in which the limitations of the SF-23 in race trim were evident, after both drivers had been in the fight for pole position yesterday.
The race. Carlos got away well to keep third place, but he soon had to give best to Max Verstappen who was charging up the order. After switching from the Medium to the Hard tyres, Carlos found his SF-23 hard to drive, which meant his pace was inconsistent and in the final third of the race, he also lost out to George Russell and finished fifth. Charles' race followed a similar pattern. After starting from seventh, he switched from Medium to Hard tyres one lap before his team-mate, which dropped him out of the top ten. He had the same problems with pace but eventually fought his way back to finish where he started.
On to Imola. Between tonight and tomorrow, the team will head back to Maranello to immediately start preparing for the Made in Italy e dell'Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, which takes place on 21 May, when further updates are planned for the SF-23. The determination of the team and drivers to do well goes without saying, especially as the Italian fans will be out in force with their support in Imola.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: Once again today, the significant difference between the SF-23's performance level in qualifying and the race was clear to see. Both Carlos and Charles found the car hard to drive and that is reflected in the result. Carlos was competitive in the first stint but then struggled quite a lot to run at a consistent pace after switching to the Hards, while Charles found it difficult on the Medium in the opening laps and only got into a good rhythm in the final stages.
Therefore, finding some consistency in the car's performance has to be our number one priority, especially in terms of tyre management, so that the confidence the drivers have in qualifying can be replicated in the race.
We will now be continuing to work flat out in Maranello on developing updates as well as on optimising the car package, with the aim of already getting more out of it at the next race in front of our tifosi in Imola.
George Russell finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton sixth in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. Lining up sixth and 13th respectively, George and Lewis took differing strategies with George starting on the medium tyre and Lewis the hard. In their opening stints, both drivers made steady progress whilst focusing on conserving tyre life.
George boxed on lap 17 to take the hard tyre. Whilst re-joining ahead of some drivers he was racing, he passed Esteban Ocon and closed down the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, overtaking him on lap 38 to take P4.
Lewis meanwhile bided his time on the hard tyre, whilst aiding his team-mates race by letting him past to attack cars ahead. He switched to the medium tyre on lap 37 and having re-joined in P13, used fresher rubber and impressive speed to carve his way through to P6 at the flag.
With a solid points haul, the Team closes the gap on second-placed Aston Martin in the Constructors' Championship to six points.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: Two years ago, we wouldn't have been as pleased with a P4 and a P6 as we are today. We know we have a difficult car though and clearly Qualifying was a real challenge. The car improved in the race, and we were able to achieve a solid result. Both drivers drove superbly today. It's difficult to pass if you start P13 and are on the same strategy as everybody else, so we opted to start Lewis on the hard tyre. Others ahead chose to do the same and, after not gaining any positions at the start, it looked like it may be slightly diminished. We got there in the end though and maximised the result. It was also fantastic to see the way him and George worked together. They are both incredible drivers, but it is so straightforward with them. That is so good for us in this difficult moment.
We move on to Imola next and I hope that we will take a step in our understanding of the car. We are glass half empty people here at Mercedes; I don't believe we will go there and be in the middle of the fight for victory. We are focused on understanding the upgrades we bring and establishing a good baseline.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We can be satisfied with the result today considering our start positions. Our Qualifying performance yesterday meant that the podium places were out of reach for George, and Lewis had a real mountain to climb from 13th. Nevertheless, through great overtaking and fine teamwork, with Lewis allowing George through to attack cars ahead, we maximised our performance and points. We've therefore had a decent day in the championship; we're in a close fight with Aston Martin and Ferrari and we've gained some ground.
We know we're still not quick enough though and we're working hard to rectify that as fast as we can. We will go back from here and try and understand why our single lap performance has been such a challenge.
BWT Alpine F1 Team scored six points from today's Miami Grand Prix with Pierre Gasly finishing eighth and Esteban Ocon ninth in a tightly contested race dominated by strategy at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Pierre made a bright start from fifth on the grid to take fourth at Turn 1 - continuing his 100% start to the season with first lap gains at every race - with Esteban too holding onto a top ten spot. With Pierre on a Medium-Hard strategy he looked to fend off Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and narrowly fell short of staying ahead of the front-running pair in the closing stages.
On a one-stop Hard to Medium plan, the latter stage of the race was where Esteban looked to gain places. After an impressive opening stint where he ran as high as third place, the Frenchman settled for ninth with an uneventful race to the line after his late stop for Mediums.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal: "We can take some satisfaction from our weekend performance here in Miami, culminating with a double points finish after two fine race drives from Pierre and Esteban. Our race pace looked strong, we managed the tyres well to fight with cars around us and we come away from here with points on the board. It's clear we have gained on some rival teams from last season with Pierre close to holding off the Ferrari and Mercedes at the end and Esteban going long on his first stint very much on the pace of some of the leading cars. That said, today's race has also highlighted the areas where we must make immediate improvements. It's continuous gains we must find and with some further upgrades in the pipeline for Imola and the following races, we can look forward to taking that fight to our immediate competitors. It's been a busy two weeks for the team and we look forward to returning to Viry and Enstone where will analyse the past two races before turning our attention to the triple header."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "Given our grid positions, we needed a good start, an eventful race and high tyre degradation in order to climb into the points. Unfortunately, none of these conditions materialised and the race was a bit of a procession at the back for us. At the first corner, Lando was hit from behind after he had gained some positions, resulting in damage costing 2-3 tenths per lap, as well as relegating him to the back. Oscar had a race-long brake-by-wire problem and did an incredible job to cope with that through a minimising the consequences and keeping decent pace.
"Our main takeaway from Miami is that we were not quick enough this weekend. After scoring points in Baku, this weekend serves as a reality check on how much work we have ahead of us. The plan doesn't change: we have good developments coming, we keep our heads down, regroup and go again in Imola."
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake put up a fight in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, with both cars involved in the action from lights to flag. Despite a feisty performance and a strong opening stint, Valtteri Bottas finished outside of the points in 13th, with team-mate, Zhou Guanyu, completing his performance in 16th.
The team returns home after a testing couple of weeks of racing, with the focus on delivering upgrades for the next event - the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola, in a fortnight.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "We saw some real signs of improvement this weekend, especially in qualifying, which had been a weaker point earlier this season. We take this as an encouragement and as a spur to keep working hard. We may not have scored points today, but we have a foundation on which to build - starting tonight, back in Hinwil, where the team is already at work, analysing today's race and producing the upgrades that will make their debut in Imola. Today's race saw us fight for a place in the top ten for a large part of the afternoon: in a race with no retirements, this was as far as we could go. The season remains long, and we're motivated to make another step forward next time around: everyone is pushing for it and I'm confident we will keep moving in the right direction."
Tom McCullough, Performance Director: "This was a tricky race to manage. Both Lance and Fernando drove faultlessly and maximised every opportunity - for Fernando, that resulted in a third-place finish and some valuable points; for Lance, it was difficult trying to cut through the traffic, but he pulled off some fantastic passes. It was frustrating to just miss out on a points-scoring position at the end. Fernando's race was all about managing the strategy from the Medium to the Hard tyre. It worked out well for him: Ferrari went for the undercut with Carlos [Sainz] but we elected to balance the stints and overtake him on track. After that, Fernando was able to consolidate third place and pull comfortably clear of the cars behind. With no DNFs and no Safety Cars, it was difficult for Lance to make progress through the field. Add low degradation to the mix and it became even trickier - because a lot of cars were able to run at a similar pace. But he managed his race extremely well, was typically brave on the brakes and made up plenty of places to finish 12th. We conclude this double-header having scored 37 points and maintained second position in the Constructors' Championship. A huge thanks to the whole team for their incredible efforts over the past few weeks. We will regroup and come back just as strong for the triple-header, which kicks off later this month."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finished 10th and 15th respectively at the Miami Grand Prix, Round 5 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Miami International Autodrome.
Magnussen started fourth on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and emerged in sixth spot on a battling first lap. The Dane was overtaken by out-of-position World Champion Max Verstappen before coming into the pits on lap 14 for White hard tires, completing his mandatory stop.
After a thrilling battle for several laps Magnussen was eventually passed by Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, while Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Alpine's Esteban Ocon profited from the alternative strategy to also move ahead. Magnussen nonetheless had sufficient speed to round out the top 10, claiming MoneyGram Haas F1 Team's third points result from five races in 2023.
Hulkenberg started from 12th place on hard tires and extended his first stint in the thick of the midfield action. The German came into the pits on lap 33, bolting on medium tires, which he preserved through to the checkered flag, finishing in 15th position in a race in which all 20 starters were classified.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team retains seventh position in the Constructors' Championship on eight points.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "We scored points again, three times out of five this year and that's good, but it's a tough crowd out there. We're there or abouts and if nothing happens at the front then we're fighting for the last points which are leftover, and we got them this weekend after a very good qualifying. The race started very well, in the middle of the race we fell back a little, but we took a point home. All in all, it's still positive. It's tough and every point counts this year, and we need to be around when there are big points being dished out. I think we are always around so that day will come, but we've taken something away from our first home race."
Guillaume Dezoteux (Head of Vehicle Performance): "We can be very happy with the eleventh position that Yuki brought home. He finished only 1.3s behind Magnussen, who started on the second row and he managed to keep Stroll behind until the chequered flag. Obviously, we would have liked a point to reward such a solid race, but with everybody finishing the race, we knew that from P17 on the grid it would have been extremely difficult. In the first stint on hard tyres, Yuki was consistent and patient, and his good tyre management allowed him to go long. After pitting on lap 37, he was in front of Hulkenberg and made some great overtaking manoeuvres on Albon and Bottas.
"Nyck's race was more difficult. After a big front lock at the start, he had a lot of vibrations from his tyres which affected his pace. Moving onto the hard tyres the balance and performance improved, so he managed to overtake Piastri on track after many laps battling with him.
"This race is encouraging for the team. The car keeps improving race by race but the midfield remains tight, which makes finishing in the points challenging. We have another significant aero update coming to Imola and we hope it will help us improve further, to become regular point finishers."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "I'd firstly like to thank the organisers for this fantastic venue and event, and to all the fans who came to watch. I think they saw an interesting race, especially with Max Verstappen starting out of position and fighting his way back, for another impressive win.
"As for our race weekend, we have been struggling from the beginning and we qualified only P15 with Nyck and P17 with Yuki. We chose two different strategies for this race; Yuki started on the hard tyre and Nyck started on the medium. Yuki made a strong start and overtook some cars on the first lap, then he drove a very good and competitive race. He overtook Albon twice, he passed Hulkenberg and Bottas and finished in P11, just 1.3 seconds behind Magnussen. Yuki also defended well against Stroll in the last few laps, and I must say that in the race our car showed a much better performance than in qualifying. We now have to analyse what we can do to optimise our qualifying pace. Nyck's start was good, but in the first corner he crashed into Norris by breaking a bit too late, which caused a flat spot on his tyres and then some vibrations. We brought him in to change from the medium tyre to the hard, and the rest of the afternoon was ok for him, but he lost his race with the contact at the beginning. Both drivers had good tyre management, which was also important for the overall performance of the car."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: We didn't quite have the pace today to challenge the top ten. We thought that we had enjoyed a good day yesterday and were probably starting the race with Alex a few places higher than the FW45's natural pace. In a rare race with no retirements, no rain, and no flags or safety cars, we weren't able to hold our position. Nonetheless, Alex had a good race with Valtteri and Nico and for a while it looked like he would beat both of them. Alex drove well and pushed the car hard trying to hold position and this led to some tyre degradation.
Logan was ambitious on the opening lap and damaged his front wing in a minor contact with Lance. We took the opportunity to pit him, change his wing and get into some free air. He had a lonely race from there but still showed some decent pace, despite some floor damage, during a very long stint on the Hard tyre. He can still take a lot from today and can take that learning into a tricky triple-header, starting in Imola in two weeks' time.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won his second consecutive Miami Grand Prix, ahead of his team mate Sergio Perez who started from pole. Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso, who had got underway from P2 on the grid, completed the podium. Perez and Alonso started the race on P Zero Yellow medium tyres, swapping them for P Zero White hard on laps 20 and 24 respectively. Verstappen started on the hard and managed to get into the lead before stopping on lap 45. He completed the final 12 laps on the medium, passing his team mate a couple of corners into his out-lap, to reclaim the lead.
All the teams adopted a one-stop strategy but seven of them split the strategies between their drivers by starting on different compounds. Ferrari and Williams decided to start both their drivers on the mediums, while McLaren was the only team to take the soft at the start, hoping to make an early stop to comply with the regulation to use two slick compounds during the race.
Williams driver Logan Sargeant completed the most laps on the hard. He put them on during lap two and maintained them all the way to the finish: a total of 54 laps. Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou completed the most laps (26) on the medium, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri was the most prolific exponent on the soft for five laps at the start.
Around halfway through the race, all the drivers were on the hard for seven laps. Among the drivers who started the race on the medium and soft, the last driver to make a stop was Alonso on lap 24. The first driver to switch from hard to medium was Zhou on lap 31.
Alonso set the fastest lap on the hard tyre (1m30.519s) while Verstappen set the fastest lap overall with a time of 1m29.708s on the medium. Lando Norris set the best time of the two drivers on the soft: 1m33.869s.
After overnight rain, the weather was cloudy for today's race with temperatures that peaked at 30 degrees centigrade, while asphalt temperatures remained between 35 and 43 degrees.
The next round of the Formula 1 World Championship will be the Gran Premio del Made in Italy e dell'Emilia Romagna at Imola from 19 to 21 May: the first European race of the season.
The new Alternative Tyre Allocation regulations will be tried out during qualifying, with each session to be run exclusively on hard, medium, and soft. The new Cinturato Blue Full Wet tyres, which do not use tyre blankets, will also make their debut. The Monaco Grand Prix and Spanish Grand Prix then takes place during the following two weekends.
Mario Isola: "The Miami Autodrome race was intense, with Red Bull claiming a fifth consecutive win since the start of the season. Pirelli tyres played an important role in the duel between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez right from the start, with differing tyre choices from the two team mates: Perez going for the expected medium from pole position while Verstappen, halfway down the grid, opted for the hard. At the chequered flag Verstappen led Perez home by five seconds, underlining how the range of compounds brought to Miami allowed for different strategies that were nonetheless quite close in terms of overall race time. It's no coincidence that a total of seven out of 10 teams chose to split the tyre choices between their two drivers. The hard (C2) tyre showed practically no degradation, allowing the drivers to push hard right to the end of long and hard-fought stints on it. This was ably demonstrated by Verstappen, who did 45 laps on the hard tyre - with plenty of overtaking - before stopping for the medium. The medium tyre also worked well, especially in terms of graining, which wasn't as much of a limiting factor as expected, especially in view of the rain that fell overnight. Fernando Alonso's long initial stint of 24 laps on this compound, for example, was one of the keys to his fourth podium from five races."
