Verstappen cruises to victory in inaugural Miami Grand Prix

MIAMI GARDENS, US: Max Verstappen used an aggressive early pass on Formula One championship leader Charles Leclerc then controlled the inaugural Miami Grand Prix for his third victory of the season.

The reigning world champion started third Sunday, but Red Bull quickly got the best of Ferrari for a second consecutive race. Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. had locked out the front row in qualifying for Ferrari, but Verstappen pounced at the start to get ahead of Sainz.

He then set his sights on Leclerc and used a strong outside pass on the ninth lap to claim the lead. Verstappen went unchallenged until a late crash between Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly brought out the safety car and setup a 10-lap sprint to the finish on the 19-turn, 3.36-mile circuit (5.41 kilometers) built around Hard Rock Stadium.

Leclerc got a few looks inside but Verstappen didn’t relent and the Dutchman won by 3.7 seconds. He also won two weeks ago at Imola as Red Bull capitalized on a poor Ferrari weekend on Italian home soil with a 1-2 finish for Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

In Miami, Ferrari settled for second and third for Leclerc and Sainz.

Perez was fourth for Red Bull and Mercedes showed much improvement with a fifth and sixth place finish for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. It’s the fourth time in five races that first-year Mercedes driver Russell has beaten the seven-time champion.

The race itself wasn’t the thriller the 85,000 in attendance Sunday breathlessly expected when they snagged one of the hottest tickets in sports. Promoters never had a general ticket sale because of crushing early demand and the campus surrounding Hard Rock Stadium was the place to party over the last three days.

Whether it was at the man-made beach club