DOMINANT DELIGHT - HOW RED BULL'S MIAMI SUCCESS SHIFTED THE FOCUS ON AN ENJOYABLE FORMULA 1 SEASON

Mario Russo

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finished atop the podium at yet another Grand Prix to continue Red Bull’s scorching start to the 2023 F1 season.

Sound familiar?

Well for the fourth time this year, the broken record casting the steady sound of Red Bull’s premature dominance blared yet another thunderous tune, with both of the team’s drivers dusting the rest of the field for a second-consecutive race.

For the second time in as many years, Max Verstappen took home the first American victory of the season with his pacing win at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix earlier this afternoon.

After a rare miscue in Saturday’s qualifying stint, the Deutchman was forced to start his race on Sunday from ninth on the grid - a spot he had little trouble escaping as the lights faded outside of Hard Rock Stadium.

The reigning champion kickstarted a long day of overtaking in the early stages of lap four, going around the outside of Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen to propel himself into P6. Verstappen would replicate his double passing only six laps later, adding the speedy car of George Russell and Pierre Gastly to his long list of Sunday victims.

By lap 15, Verstappen aligned himself behind his teammate and race leader Sergio Perez to once again provide team principal Christian Horner with a pair of viable options throughout the lion’s share of the race. The two drivers would swap places following the anticipated pitting of Perez on lap 21, giving Verstappen his first lead of the day.

For the 25 laps to follow, ‘Miami Max’ rapidly pulled away from the rest of the field, setting the fastest lap numerous times while maximizing the life out of his hard-compound tyre. By lap 46, Verstappen made his way into the pit lane, exiting only to find his teammate Perez just a few car lengths in front of him as he rejoined the track.

With a fresh set of wheels - and just one lap removed from being stationary in the pits, Verstappen centered his car along the rear end of Perez to set up a thrilling team battle for pole position. In a matter of seconds, Verstappen - a driver who started the day on the fringe of Q3 - took the race lead for good, cutting through the inside of Perez to recapture his top spot in Miami.

The two Red Bulls crossed the finish line nearly 26 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso’s third-placed Aston Martin to cap off yet another cruising victory over the field. As dominant as their Sunday success may appear on the stopwatch however, Red Bull was responsible for manufacturing a much-needed quality race for the fans to enjoy after consecutive weeks of probable gridlock overhauled much of the racetrack.

And they did so by taking every other vehicle out of contention.

Any time a reigning champion finds themself well behind their traditional post atop the grid, a massive push towards regaining regularity is highly anticipated. Max Verstappen found himself in that very same position while parking his car behind the unfamiliar Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas prior to the race.

What stemmed from a qualifying blunder was racing at its finest, with Verstappen encapsulating it all with his shotgun approach to climbing the leaderboards. The overtaking that was relatively scarce in recent weeks was effortlessly packed in the race’s eventual winner, coming in bunches and exploding during the final stretch that featured a dramatic one-on-one team battle for the top spot.

Even the managing of the hard-compound tyre is an element of the race that cannot go unrecognized - especially when factoring in just how heavily Verstappen relied upon its strength to make his push up the grid.

With grip being a major talking point amongst the drivers prior to Sunday’s race, Verstappen appeared to be one of the few participants unphased by the lack of traction, with him and former championship rival Lewis Hamilton riding the hard-compound tyre for 45 and 37 laps respectively before swapping them out for their medium counterparts.

Regardless of the efficient management of the tyre, or the applaudable aggressiveness of Christian Horner’s team, Red Bull used their typical tyranny that turns viewers away from the sport in a way that glues their eyes to the television screen from start to finish.

In marvel of dominance, rather than disgust.

Making the far-too familiar outcome in an unfamiliar way is a wrinkle of the sport that has been lost so far this season. Only just a month worth of racing into the books and Red Bull appear to be unstoppable, generating an aura that the decade-dominance of Mercedes fails to hold a candle to.

And with the team already 5/5 so far this year, the only hope of making the 2023 F1 season memorable stands within the dominant spectacle of the league’s leading team and how they use their step above the rest of the field to create meaningful moments.

The Miami Grand Prix was an uncontested hit this weekend and Red Bull was the team that made it all possible. For the first time this season, dominance was adored, encouraged, admired for the qualitative display of racing.

The result created a tune, a rhythm of some sort. Its melody - though on the surface - remained ancient, yet could be traced back to some of the best the industry has ever heard. Shades of dominant delight.

May it’s song so rightfully return.