Oracle Red Bull Racing

Race Changing Moments: Miami Grand Prix 2023

The highs and lows from the first US race of the season

The

second

race

Miami

was

scorcher

–

ways

than

one!

There

was

action

all

the

way

through

and

another

great

result

for

the

Team.

Here

are

the

moments

that

made

the

race…

The

Highs

Quali

It was a great Q3 for Checo. The Bull had only collected two pole positions in his career before and with the stands packed with Mexican fans, they all wanted their driver to do well.

Checo put in a great first push lap, with a time of 1:26.841, which saw him provisionally on pole. Then with the clock ticking down all the drivers returned to the track to set their best time, but with under two minutes remaining Charles Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari and crashed into the barrier causing the red flags to be waved and the session to be ended early. This meant Checo pleased the fans and kept his pole.

The Highs Of Quali

And

The

Lows

Quali…

It was a different story for Max in qualifying. Max had aborted his first lap after going wide into one of the turns. He was told to box to prepare for his final flying run, but as he headed out of the garage, Leclerc lost control and crashed in turn 6. With the red flags coming out to end the session, Max was unable to set a time, meaning he was going to start the race in P9.

And The Lows of Quali

Max’s

Overtaking

Master

Class

With the Dutchman starting on the fifth row of the grid, it was always going to be interesting to see how he was going to battle his way round the 57-lap race. Max’s move of the race came on lap four. He was on the tail of Charles Leclerc, who in turn, was chasing Kevin Magnussen down. With the two battling it out as Leclerc made his move on the start/finish straight, Max went the overside of the Haas driver and was able to get in front of both and take the inside line to take P6. It only took Max another 11 laps to snatch P2 away from Fernando Alonso, which meant he only had his teammate in front of him.

Max’s Overtaking Master Class

Working

Those

Tyres

Hard

Max put 45 laps on his starting set of hard tyres and he worked them hard. He fought his way from P9 on the starting grid, right to the front of the pack (with a 17s lead no least). When he did pit for fresh mediums tyres, he knew he’d be in P2 behind Checo, but by that point Checo;s hard tyres by were 20 laps old and all he had was a 1.5s lead on Max. Max took his time, but was within DRS quickly and took the lead from his teammate on lap 48.

Working Those Tyres Hard

Keeping

Clean

There has been a few times in the past where Christian has had some tough post-race debriefs due to the drivers coming together on track. Fortunately, this weekend wasn’t one of those times. Althouh Checo had the lead, he knew Max had fresh tyres and was going to catch him. But the Mexican Minister of Defense lived up to his reputation and didn’t give up easily.The pair had a great battle as they fought for several corners, giving fans a good show before Max was able to get in front and pull away. It was a great result for the Team, collecting the maximum points with Max also collecting the fastest lap in the closing moments.

Keeping It Clean