Red Bull elusive in Miami. Alonso still first of the pursuers. Mercedes growing, Ferrari declining

Listen to the audio version of the article

Verstappen junior is experiencing a golden moment. Perfect car and increasingly consolidated champion qualities. Once again, yesterday, he proved flawless, mature, calculating. In the second edition of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Miami, a picturesque location but talked about by the technicians due to alternating purely technical problems (the heaviest concerns the poorly dosed oils in the preparation of the asphalt), after having made the others ‘vent’, the champion in charge of the last two years he has recovered position after position, managed the tires in an extraordinary way, ‘made a vacuum’, won by victory and amazed everyone. Without appeal, without room for criticism. By now he dictates the law like those rare phenomena that have been seen once a decade at the most: with the same car, even in the United States he has ‘clubbed’ his teammate, destroying his morale due to the overwhelming supremacy. Another of his historic comebacks, as Niki Lauda managed well, but also to him: it is the seventh time in his career that he has recovered at least eight positions, arriving on the podium, of which three times, when he won, with eight, nine and thirteen opponents overtaken.

The podium in Miami is therefore the replica of Bahrain: Verstappen, Perez, Alonso. The only three riders who in the first five races have reached the coveted three steps in four of the tests held so far in 2023.

After this unreachable Verstappen’s Red Bull, the second is Perez, but with a certain detachment: the son of Jos literally flaunted a supremacy at times depressing, because despite starting ninth, he outclassed his teammate Perez, holder of the pole position, demonstrating to pass it even with hard tires about forty laps old. A setback, an unheard-of showdown that has few precedents in the history of this sport. Verstappen was in fact the last in the race to change the tyres, because from the pit wall they could see that he was able to gain precious seconds on everyone, including his box mate, and so they let him come back only when, having put on the medium tires, it seemed being able to risk as little as possible to regain leadership.

In fact, that’s exactly what happened: after a necessary change just over 10 laps from the end, Verstappen returned to second place. But in a few kilometers he was able to pass Perez again very quickly. There was suspense between the two, but very brief: they tried to make a show but in the end the Mexican was never able to ‘close’ his rival, necessarily having to avoid any danger of confrontation, and had to pass the fierce leader of the world. With great regret because his proximity to Mexico undoubtedly made Perez the darling of the race in Florida.

So is there a team that can really put a spanner in Red Bull’s works? Not at the moment, but the first of the pursuers is new compared to recent years: he is increasingly consolidating in Aston Martin. Of course, looking at the constructors’ classification, by now the 224 points of the Milton Keynes team already seem unattainable for their opponents because, due to a Stroll who is not very constant and capable of taking ‘heavy’ points, the result of the second team, mainly thanks to Alonso is at 102. Third is Mercedes, at 96, with Ferrari sadly at 78, then the ‘gap’ up to 14 for McLaren and Alpine and the other 4 with global points in just single digits. In this scenario, Aston Martin has literally already worked a miracle to get where it is, regularly unseating Ferrari and Mercedes in this initial phase of the season. As a result, you can see it well on TV, Alonso has simply gone ‘jujube soup’. With so many years in which he alternated the vision between the glass half full and half empty in his teams, in this first race in May the Asturian was more radiant than ever. Like a kid, but on the podium 102 of his long career, at the top level for more than twenty years now.