Miami Grand Prix: Race Recap

Hulkenberg started from ninth place on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires, and gained positions through the opening lap to hold seventh. Hulkenberg retained his spot for several laps, battling with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, before dropping behind Hamilton, as well as the other Mercedes of George Russell. Hulkenberg stopped on lap 12 for White hard tires, filtering back into the pack, and scrapped gamely in the midfield before stopping once more under the safety car on lap 28 for mediums. Hulkenberg came out in 14th place before rising to 11th, missing out on a points-paying position by just one second. 

Magnussen lined up from 18th position on hard tires and ran a lengthy first stint prior to pitting on lap 23 for medium tires under a virtual safety car period caused by a loose bollard on track. Shortly after the restart Magnussen collided with Williams’ Logan Sargeant into Turn 3, for which the Dane was deemed culpable, and was issued a 10-second time penalty. Magnussen pitted for a front wing change, and medium tires, in the aftermath of the collision, and classified in 18th at the checkered. 

Up front McLaren Racing driver Lando Norris claimed his maiden grand prix victory, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, with Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third.

 

Nico Hulkenberg: 

“It’s been a good weekend. Obviously, the icing on the cake would’ve been another points finish today. Unfortunately, the first half of the race – the first stint and the first part of the second stint – weren’t strong enough. I was struggling for grip, and we weren’t quick enough in that part of the race. The VSC wasn’t great, and when the Safety Car came out it became a three-stop race but that put us back on the map, and there was some good racing. I enjoyed the race, I don’t think we could’ve done anything differently.”

Kevin Magnussen:

“It wasn’t a good day, again. Hopefully I can get some clarity on things going forward. What happened today, of course it’s not good, but nonetheless, we try to move on and have a better weekend next weekend.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“Bit of a tough day today but ultimately, especially the first half of the race when the car was heavy, we didn’t quite have the pace, especially on the hard tire. That hurt us, but after the Safety Car, we put on the medium tire trying to get back into the points and we got close – Nico finished P11 so that’s positive. It’s disappointing today but overall, we’ve scored points at four out of six events, and that’s the positive we need to take away. For Imola, we have more things coming so we’ll see what we can do there.”