Max Verstappen struck again within the 2023 title race by beating Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to victory throughout Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, recovering from ninth on the grid and passing the pole-sitter within the closing phases of an intriguing, strategic race.
Verstappen was jeered by followers as he stepped onto the rostrum post-race; He had overtaken a number of drivers as he fought from ninth on the grid; The Dutchman is now 14 factors clear within the drivers’ championship forward of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Max Verstappen responded to followers who booed him after the Miami Grand Prix, by insisting it’s “absolutely fine” whereas he’s nonetheless successful.
Some boos had been reported through the pre-race festivities as nicely, however the Dutchman argued it’s “normal” for followers to dislike successful drivers as he delivered a defiant post-race message to his critics. “If I were driving in the back nobody would be doing anything in terms of reaction,” Verstappen mentioned after the race.
The former world champion after ending on the rostrum mentioned, “It is something for me which is absolutely fine as long as I am standing on the top. To me, the most important thing is I take the trophy home and they go back to their houses and they can have a nice evening”.
Verstappen was voted Driver of the Day by tv viewers after a efficiency which included a powerful overtake on each Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen in the identical transfer earlier than he handed George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and, finally, Perez later within the race.
However, whereas Perez led the primary half of the race on a medium-hard tyre technique, Verstappen expertly stretched out his preliminary stint on hards to rise from P9 to P1 – through a collection of effective strikes – and he emerged simply behind his teammate with a recent set of mediums late on.
With 10 laps remaining, Verstappen comfortably cleared Perez to maneuver right into a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish, which means the Mexican needed to accept the runner-up spot and lose a number of the floor he had made up within the title race.
