MIAMI: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen survived a miraculous late comeback from his Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc to win the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, here on Sunday.

Verstappen, who was looking favourite for an easy win after taking the lead in the ninth lap and passing Carlos Sainz and Leclerc of Ferrari on Turn One and Turn Two respectively, survived a late race assault from Leclerc.

The world champion was cruising to an easy win since then but a bizarre crash between McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly brought the safety car which brought Verstappen and Leclerc together and restarted the race with 10 laps to go.

 

Closing the field allowed Leclerc a second chance when his hopes seemed to be fading, and he gave it his all to recover the lead but Verstappen managed to break his challenge.

Verstappen’s triumph was his second in a row, the first by a driver this year, and it summarized his run of either winning or retiring this year.

 

Despite Perez having the advantage of fresh tyres after Red Bull pitted him for new medium tyres during the safety car interval, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz held on to third for the final podium place.

 

It is pertinent to mention here that Verstappen’s win has cut Leclerc’s championship lead to 19 points as the Ferrari driver still leads the chart with 104 points, whereas, Verstappen follows with 85.

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