LIVE: Sergio Pérez sprinted off the line and has opened a comfortable lead early in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix. His Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who started ninth, was already up to fourth by Lap 10. Check back for updates.
So now it’s a two-horse race. Or a two-Bull race. Whatever.
Sergio Pérez’s victory last weekend in Baku, Azerbaijan, was his second of the Formula 1 season, and it allowed him to match the victory total of his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. More important? The result allowed Pérez to close Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ championship to a mere six points as the series arrived in the United States for Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
Since the one sure thing in Formula 1 at the moment seems to be that a Red Bull will finish first, each week now looms as a hinge moment. Pérez starts Sunday with the advantage: He is on pole position, and knows a win will give him the lead in the points race. Verstappen, surely seething after qualifying ninth, will…
This article was written by Andrew Das and Josh Katz and originally published on www.nytimes.com