Verstappen's American double as Hamilton clinches extraordinary first

Miami Grand Prix

Verstappen's American double as Hamilton clinches extraordinary first

All the best stats and facts from the Miami Grand Prix

GPFans Staff & Sundaram Ramaswami

Monday 9 May 2022 17:45 Updated: 18:09

Max Verstappen took victory in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix to cut the gap at the top of the drivers' standings to just 19 points.

F1 championship leader Charles Leclerc followed his rival home in second with the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz finishing third.

After a star-spangled event in Florida, here are the best stats and facts from the Miami International Autodrome.

Verstappen moving on up

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Verstappen's victory puts him on par with Nelson Piquet and Nico Rosberg in the all-time list of races won with 23 to his name.

The win also means the Dutchman has won at both active circuits in the USA and at 16 unique circuits.

Red Bull stop Mercedes record

The defending champion put an end to Mercedes’ streak of winning the inaugural race at new venues in the hybrid era.

"Before this, Red Bull’s last win at a brand-new event came at the 2011 Indian Grand Prix courtesy of Sebastian Vettel.

Verstappen's double perfection

Verstappen has taken all the points on offer in the last two races - 34 at Imola and 26 at Miami.

If he finishes, he wins

If Verstappen has finished a race this season, including the Imola sprint, he has won.

In fact, his record is so strong that the last time a podium ceremony didn't include the Red Bull driver in either first, second or third was Hungary last year.

Pole stranglehold broken

Ferrari took pole on Saturday but Red Bull's triumph on Sunday marked the first time in nine races that the pole-sitting team didn’t win the Grand Prix.

Leclerc has 12 poles in F1, eight of which he has failed to convert to a win.

Leclerc on top of active streak

Leclerc has finished every race since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, making it the longest active finishing streak in F1.

Sainz closing on

Sainz has nine podiums to his name but is yet to stand on the top step of in F1.

He’s slowly climbing higher in the list of most podiums without a race win, currently topped by Nick Heidfeld with 13 podium appearances.

The Spaniard has clinched a podium in each of his last four race finishes.

Hamilton's incredible first as Russell continues form

George Russell remains the only driver to finish in the top-5 at every race this season.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished outside the top-4 in the USA for the first time in his F1 career.

Mercedes struggles plain to see

This is the first time in the hybrid era that Mercedes have finished two consecutive races outside the podium places, where either driver didn't suffer a DNF.

But after Lando Norris finished third in Imola for McLaren, this is only the second instance since November 2019 that a Mercedes-powered car hasn’t made it to the podium. It first occurred in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

McLaren's backwards step

In 2021, only once did McLaren fail to score points in a Grand Prix - Hungary. This year they've returned empty-handed in two of the five races so far.

Daniel Ricciardo has registered just 11 points in the last six races. His teammate Lando Norris scored 41 points in the same period.

But Norris' clash with Pierre Gasly ended a 15-race scoring streak.

Impressive AlphaTauri run ends

AlphaTauri go home without any points in a race for the first time since Qatar 2021 as Gasly retired and Yuki Tsunoda struggled.

Williams mark anniversary with points

With P9, Alex Albon scored two points on the 45th anniversary of the debut of Williams Grand Prix Engineering in the 1977 Spanish GP.

Safety car chaos

There has been a safety car or virtual safety car period in each of the last 10 races. The last event not to feature one the United States Grand Prix at COTA last year.

Miami provides overtaking despite concerns

Despite groans from drivers about grip around the new track surface and many suggesting the race didn't quite live up to the hype, the Miami Grand Prix saw the second-highest number of overtakes this year with 45.

Only Bahrain had more with 58.