The Miami Grand Prix 2023 was the 5th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Miami International Autodrome in Miami, USA, during the weekend of the 5th to the 7th of May.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 9th position, followed by Sergio Pérez, who originally had the pole position, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 20 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 14-15: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 21.884 seconds during his pit stop on lap 20, while the slowest one was was Logan Sargeant's, who stopped the clock at 48.938 seconds, 27.054 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 2.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
In terms of strategy this was a clear 1 stop race, whith literally every single driver choosing to make 1stop.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Logan Sargeant
-
1Lando Norris
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-Oscar Piastri
-
6Kevin Magnussen
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3Valtteri Bottas
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3Pierre Gasly
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3Nyck de Vries
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-Charles Leclerc
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2George Russell
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2Carlos Sainz
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1Sergio Pérez
-
3Alexander Albon
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1Fernando Alonso
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2Guanyu Zhou
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3Nico Hülkenberg
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6Yuki Tsunoda
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7Lewis Hamilton
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1Esteban Ocon
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6Lance Stroll
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8Max Verstappen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Miami International Autodrome, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
This was a clean race. There might have been some minor incidents, but in the end all drivers managed to cross the finish line, and none were disqualified after the race ended..
Qualifying
Sergio Pérez managed to get the pole position by 0.361 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:26.841. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Fernando Alonso.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 13 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. That being said, the changing conditions of the track made it difficult to find these limits, and only 1 driver was able to improve his Q2 times.