You probably remember the 2023 Miami Grand Prix as that race with the fake marina and the weird pre-race driver introductions that made everyone on Twitter lose their minds. But if you actually look at what happened on the asphalt of the Miami International Autodrome, it was a total masterclass in psychological warfare.
Most people went into that weekend thinking Sergio "Checo" Perez was finally going to take the fight to Max Verstappen. He had the momentum. He had the pole. Max was buried back in ninth. It felt like the championship was actually up for grabs.
Then the lights went out, and honestly, Verstappen just broke him.
The Strategy That Swapped the Script
Starting P9 is usually a death sentence in modern F1 unless you're in a rocket ship, and the Red Bull RB19 was definitely a rocket. But the real genius wasn't just the car; it was the tires. While Checo and the rest of the front-runners started on the Mediums (the "logical" choice), Max went rogue. He bolted on a set of Hard tires.
The idea was simple but risky: go long, stay out while everyone else pits, and hope you have enough pace at the end on fresh rubber to hunt them down.
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It worked better than anyone expected. By lap 15, Max hadn't just moved up; he was already in second place. He was picking people off like it was a video game on "Easy" mode. The double overtake on Charles Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen into Turn 1 was probably the highlight of the whole afternoon. It was clinical. No drama, just pure speed.
Why Checo Couldn't Hold On
Perez led the first 20 laps, but he was struggling. The track was hot—asphalt temperatures were hovering around 43°C—and his front tires were graining. When he finally pitted on lap 20, Max inherited the lead.
This is the part most people forget: Max didn't just stay in front; he matched Checo's pace on 30-lap-old Hard tires while Checo was on brand-new rubber. That shouldn't happen. It was a demoralizing stretch of racing that basically told the world that even with a massive grid disadvantage, Verstappen was untouchable.
When Max finally pitted on lap 45, he came out just a second behind Perez. On fresh Mediums, it wasn't a fair fight. He blew past his teammate at Turn 1 with 10 laps to go and didn't look back.
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The Celebrity Circus and the $449 Million Boost
Away from the tire strategies and DRS zones, Miami was doing what Miami does best: being loud. The 2023 event saw 270,491 people show up over the weekend. That's a massive jump from the inaugural 2022 race.
We saw everyone. Elon Musk was in the Red Bull garage. Jeff Bezos was hanging out at McLaren. Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, and Tom Brady were all wandering around. It felt less like a sporting event and more like a billionaire's convention that happened to have cars in the background.
But for the city of Miami, it wasn't just about the glitz. A study by Applied Analysis later showed the 2023 race alone pumped roughly $449 million into the local economy. Visitors were spending an average of $1,940 per person. That's nearly double what a typical tourist spends in Miami.
The Cringe Factor
We have to talk about the intros. LL Cool J was out there introducing drivers while will.i.am conducted an orchestra. Some fans loved the Americanized showmanship; others, like Max Verstappen himself, weren't exactly thrilled about standing in the humidity for 30 minutes before jumping into a cockpit.
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"I just want to get in the car," was the general vibe from the drivers. It’s a tension that still exists in F1—the balance between being a "sport" and being "entertainment."
Why This Race Still Matters
If you're looking for the exact moment the 2023 title race ended, it was here. Before Miami, Checo was only six points behind Max. After Miami, the gap widened to 14, and Checo’s confidence seemed to fall off a cliff for the rest of the season.
It proved that the "King of the Streets" title people gave to Perez was maybe a bit premature when Max was in this kind of form.
Key Takeaways from the 2023 Miami Grand Prix:
- Verstappen’s P9 to P1 charge was his 38th win for Red Bull, tying Sebastian Vettel’s record for the team at the time.
- Zero DNFs. Incredibly, every single one of the 20 drivers finished the race. That almost never happens on a street circuit.
- Fernando Alonso is ageless. He put that Aston Martin on the podium again (his fourth in five races), proving that his move from Alpine was the smartest thing he’d done in a decade.
- The track surface was actually better. They resurfaced the whole thing before the race, which meant more grip and better racing than the "ice rink" feel of 2022.
If you're heading to a future race at the Miami International Autodrome, don't just focus on the Paddock Club or the beach clubs. Pay attention to the track temperature. As we saw in 2023, the way the heat interacts with the tires here is the real story. It’s a punishing, humid circuit that rewards whoever can keep their cool—literally and figuratively.
For your next steps, check the historical weather data for the Florida GP dates. The humidity changes how the engines breathe and how the tires degrade, which is why Max was able to pull off that Hard-to-Medium strategy so effectively. If you're betting or playing F1 Fantasy, always look at the Friday practice long-run paces in the heat; that’s where the 2023 race was won.