How Verstappen hatched Miami tyre gamble plan with engineer

World championship leader Verstappen produced a sensational drive from ninth on the grid in Miami and used an off-set tyre strategy to beat Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to victory. 

Verstappen started the race on hard tyres and ran a long opening stint before switching onto the faster medium rubber for the closing stages. 

After coming out of the pits 1.5s behind Perez, who was on hard tyres, Verstappen made light work of catching and passing the Mexican to seal his third win from the opening five races. 

The Dutchman explained that he and race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase discussed the tyre strategy after qualifying on Saturday. 

“It was something I wondered about already [on Saturday], together with my engineer,” Verstappen said. “We were quite strongly opinionated on that already.

“Then, of course, you have to discuss it with the team, with the strategists, and they were like: ‘OK. In terms of race time, it was very close between doing a medium/hard or hard/medium, so it didn’t really matter.

“Of course, when you start on the hard, the risk is a bit higher because we only had one, so if you had a lap one puncture or whatever, then of course your race is a bit tougher. But I was happy to take that gamble and do it the other way around.

“I think even if it was the other way around, of course you always have to look after your tyres, also on the medium – but I just felt like maybe it gave me a better opportunity to get through the field initially.

“By lap 14, I think, I was already on a podium position, so from there onwards it’s mostly about driving in clean air and you have to look after your tyres anyway.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claimed Verstappen would have won no matter what tyre compound he started on. 

"You can see that the data was coming up with the same answers, and the highest probable points score was actually for Max to start on the mediums," Horner told Sky.

"To be honest with you today, I think with the pace he had, it wouldn't have mattered if he just started on the on the soft, the medium or the hard tyre.

"It made it an interesting race, because he had to manage that tyre early on, but his pace, as it has been all weekend, has just been outstanding."