Verstappen records the first win from ninth on the grid in almost 40 years, Perez reaches 30 podium finishes and Gasly scores in the United States for the first time. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2023 Miami Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN WINS 2023 MIAMI GRAND PRIX
Max Verstappen took victory in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix from ninth on the grid, becoming the first driver to win from ninth since Niki Lauda at the 1984 French Grand Prix. The ninth grid slot has by far the fewest wins of any grid position in the top ten. Verstappen’s victory was only the fifth from ninth on the grid in Formula 1 history.
Winning from ninth on the grid for the first time, Verstappen becomes the eighth different driver to have won from as many as eight different grid slots during his Formula 1 career. Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda are the other drivers to have done so. Verstappen needs to win from one more grid slot to equal Alonso’s record of most different grid slots from which a driver has taken victory.
Recording the 38th victory of his career at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, Verstappen equalled Sebastian Vettel as the driver to have won the most races with Red Bull. Only Lewis Hamilton (with Mercedes) and Michael Schumacher (with Ferrari) sit ahead of Verstappen on the list of most wins with a single team.
Having also won the inaugural race in Miami, Verstappen’s 2023 Miami Grand Prix win makes this the 18th time that the same driver has won each of the first two races at a new venue in Formula 1.
For only the seventh time in Formula 1 history, a single team has won all of the first five races of the year. Red Bull become the fifth different team to achieve the feat – and the first since Mercedes in 2019.
Verstappen’s win from ninth on the grid at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix made Red Bull the third team to have won from ten different grid slots in Formula 1. Ferrari and McLaren are the only other teams to have done so. Ferrari have won from 14 different grid slots, while McLaren have won from 13.
Scoring points for the 24th race in a row, Verstappen equals Michael Schumacher for the fourth longest points streak in Formula 1 history.
Verstappen recorded the 23rd fastest lap of his career, equalling Juan Manuel Fangio, Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso for 12th place in the list of most fastest laps.
Verstappen took the 89th podium finish from ninth on the grid – the first since the 2018 Bahrain Grand Prix, when Lewis Hamilton finished third having started ninth.
After five races in 2023, Red Bull lead the Constructors’ Championship by 122 points. It is the largest points lead ever held after the fifth round of the season, eclipsing Mercedes’ record of a 113 point lead after the 2014 Spanish Grand Prix.
ON THE PODIUM
Polesitter Sergio Perez finished as runner-up to his team-mate, giving Red Bull their 26th 1-2 finish in Formula 1.
Perez becomes the 36th F1 driver to record 30 podium finishes. He equals Juan Pablo Montoya’s number of top three results.
This was the first time that the polesitter finished as runner-up since the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso recorded a podium result for the fourth time in the first five races of the 2023 season. This was his 102nd podium result, putting him one short of equalling Kimi Raikkonen for fifth in the list of most Formula 1 podium finishes.
With Alonso finishing in the top three, Spain overtakes Austria for ninth on the list of most podiums for a nation in Formula 1. This was the 119th podium finish for a Spaniard.
This was the third time that the Silverstone-based team have finished on the podium in the United States. The team’s only other podium finishes here came under their Jordan guise at the 2000 United States Grand Prix (Heinz-Harald Frentzen) and the 2005 United States Grand Prix (Tiago Monteiro).
IN THE POINTS
With fourth place, George Russell equalled his best result of the season to date. He also finished fourth in the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Having started sixth and finished fourth, Russell made the 2023 Miami Grand Prix the third consecutive race in which the driver starting sixth has finished fourth.
Carlos Sainz finished the 2023 Miami Grand Prix in fifth place, recording his first consecutive top five results of the 2023 season.
Lewis Hamilton gained seven positions over the course of the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. Having started 13th, he finished the race sixth. That saw him record consecutive sixth place finishes for the first time since the 2010 Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers to record the same result in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix as they did at the 2022 Miami Grand Prix.
For the second time this year, both Alpine drivers picked up points. Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished eighth and ninth respectively in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. In the team’s other double points scoring race this year – the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – the duo also finished eighth and ninth but in the opposite order.
Pierre Gasly finished eighth in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, picking up points in the United States for the first time in his Formula 1 career. Gasly’s previous best result in America was 12th place with Toro Rosso in the 2018 United States Grand Prix.
Finishing tenth, Kevin Magnussen recorded his second point of the 2023 season. He also scored a single point with a tenth place finish at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
For the fourth time in the last six races, Yuki Tsunoda finished in 11th place. Tsunoda is having a consistent start to the 2023 season, having finished 10th in the other two races so far this year.
12th place for Lance Stroll in the 2023 Miami Grand Prix marked the first time he has finished a race without picking up points since the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix, where he finished 15th.
From the two races held in Miami so far, it is Stroll who has gained the most positions. He gained ten positions in 2022 and six in 2023.
Nico Hulkenberg made this the second consecutive Miami Grand Prix in which a Haas driver finished 15th. Mick Schumacher finished 15th with the team last year.
Lando Norris finished 17th for the third time in the five races in the 2023 season so far.
Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Lando Norris are the only drivers to compete in both the 2022 Miami Grand Prix and the 2023 Miami Grand Prix and fail to pick up a point in either race.
All 20 drivers completed the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, making this the first race since the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix which every driver who started, finished. It is only the 11th time this has occurred in Formula 1.
For the first time since the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix, six different teams filled the top six grid slots at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. This is a rare feat in Formula 1, with the most recent time this happened before the Qatar race being the 2012 German Grand Prix.
This was the first race with no Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car periods since the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
