Date: 07/05/2023
Venue: Miami International Autodrome
Sergio Perez has thrown down the gauntlet to Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen this season and has value appeal for our Miami Grand Prix predictions.
The Mexican is just six points behind in the drivers’ table after matching the defending champion with two wins apiece so far.
Having already prevailed in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, Perez stands out at 3/1 in the Miami Grand Prix odds.
In Baku last weekend, he took advantage of an early safety car to pit for new tyres and leapfrog Verstappen before controlling the race.
Verstappen is still expected to cruise to his third straight title, but Perez, who also won Saturday’s sprint race, is determined to keep pushing the Dutch ace.
“It is a long year ahead, but I really believe I am in the fight,” said Perez, who bounced back from dropping points in Australia following a qualifying horror show.
“I wouldn’t say today’s race was my best ever, but it was just very good. I pushed from start to the end without mistakes.
“When you do that, you believe you can beat anyone, so it is just about keeping it up throughout the season.
“I only regret the problems we had in Melbourne that made us lose a lot of points. Without that, I could have been closer in the championship.”
Perez was lauded by his race engineer, Hugh Bird, as the “King of the Streets” after he crossed the line 2.1 seconds clear of Verstappen.
The 33-year-old’s victory was his second in Azerbaijan, while he has taken the chequered flag at street venues in Jeddah in March, and Monaco and Singapore last year.
Sunday’s race is also on a street course, so we’re prepared to take on 1/2 favourite Verstappen in our Miami Grand Prix betting tips.
Verstappen acknowledged: “Sergio has really been on it this year and performing well and that is great. He is feeling confident in the car.
“You need to acknowledge and appreciate when somebody has done a great job and that is what happened today. We will fight for the rest of the season.”
Red Bull’s dominance continued with a 14th win from their last 15 outings and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fully 21 seconds back in third.
However, the Monegasque will take heart from having been fastest in qualifying before finishing on the podium for the first time this season.
“We are still not quite there in terms of race pace and we know that’s what we have to work on the most at the moment,” said Leclerc.
“We maximised every session throughout the weekend and couldn’t have done anything differently, so that’s something to be happy about and the team did a great job.”
Leclerc also secured pole position in this race 12 months ago and is 2/1 to head the starting grid again in the Miami Grand Prix odds.
Fernando Alonso put in another solid shift to finish fourth in Baku, having been third in the opening three races for the much-improved Aston Martin outfit.
“I think we had a tricky weekend with the DRS issue on Friday and Saturday, but despite this we have finished only one second away from the podium at the chequered flag,” said the Spaniard.
“With that in mind, I have to be happy with fourth position and our overall performance, which was encouraging all race.”
Many punters will be content to take Evens for Alonso to make the top three in Florida in their Miami Grand Prix predictions, while he is 3/4 to fare better than Leclerc.
Lewis Hamilton finished sixth in Azerbaijan, 46 seconds behind Sergio Perez, while Mercedes team-mate George Russell was further down the road in eighth.
The Silver Arrows are set to introduce a revamped machine in Imola on May 21, but look best watched this week.
Past Miami GP winners
2022 Verstappen (Red Bull), Leclerc (Ferrari), Sainz (Ferrari)
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