Verstappen roars to Miami victory from ninth after passing Perez

Formula One superstar Max Verstappen stormed up from ninth place to win the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, overtaking Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and extending his lead in the standings over the Mexican to 14 points.
Champion Verstappen started from ninth after a miscalculation in Saturday's qualifying, which ended early after Charles Leclerc's big spin, but he pulled off one of the most impressive of his 38 F1 wins having also triumphed in Miami last year.
Perez won in Azerbaijan just a week ago but could not hold on having begun on pole in Florida, Red Bull allowing the pair to race in the closing stages after the Dutchman had stayed out long on hard tyres.
Fernando Alonso, 41, was third for surging Aston Martin for the fourth time this season.
Double champion Verstappen has won three and Perez two of the five races so far this year and a title fight between team-mates is now on the cards in the 23-race season, with Emilia-Romagna next on May 21.
Verstappen swore with happiness over the radio - as is becoming tradition - and added: "The tyre lasted really nicely and that was a good fight with Checo. A good day."
Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton began in 13th after struggling in qualifying and finished the race in sixth as Mercedes ended a difficult weekend on a better note, team-mate George Russell being allowed to pass Hamilton and ending up fourth.
The race was one largely to forget for Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz given a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane, leaving the Spaniard to finish fifth, with team-mate Leclerc of Monaco seventh.
The track, which weaves around the Miami Dolphins NFL stadium and under real highways, welcomed a star-studded guest-list including Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Elon Musk and Shakira.
There was less of a spectacle on the tarmac, with no drama towards the front on the first lap as polesitter Perez got away cleanly and Verstappen failed to make quick progress up the field.
But the Dutchman then began to edge up, eating into Perez's six-second lead, with one particularly impressive pass coming when he overtook Kevin Magnussen's Haas and Leclerc in one move.
He then got past Russell into fifth with a bold move and a series on fastest laps had him flying towards the race leaders.
Perez, cheered by Mexican and Spanish-speaking fans in cloudy Miami, responded by going quicker at the front but Verstappen, quickest in two of three practice sessions this week, continued to hunt him down on the hard tyres which were a lucky legacy of qualifying.
His rivals were on mediums and the champion was up to second by the 16th lap, Perez pitting first five laps later for hards and new leader Verstappen staying out until lap 46 of 57.
He emerged behind Perez but with fresher tyres Verstappen bore down on the Mexican as Red Bull had a possible team orders row brewing.
They let them race though and Verstappen tried a risky move but got by to seize victory, the first from ninth since Niki Lauda in 1984.
"I think the medium initially was really poor and that was unexpected," Perez said. "That really compromised our pace and I also think Max had tremendous pace on the hard tyres."
It has been a good week otherwise for dominant Red Bull, with reports saying car design guru Adrian Newey has signed a new deal.
This was the second edition of the Miami race and is the first of three grands prix in the United States this season, with Austin and newcomer Las Vegas following in October and November. There are talks about turning Miami into a night race next year.
Miami stuck to the traditional weekend format rather than trialling the sprint events, which feature six times this year.