5 F1 Request A Bets to Look Out for in this Weekend’s Miami GP

This weekend’s inaugural Miami GP will likely see title-challenging duo Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen lead the way as they have done in the majority of races this season.

Verstappen dominated the Imola GP and took his second victory of the season, whilst Leclerc’s costly late spin saw him finish sixth, the first time the Monegasque driver has failed to finish on the podium this season, having done so at the previous three rounds.

Esteban Ocon had a weekend to forget at Imola, but, will be expected to come back in good form here for Alpine, having managed seventh-place finishes at Bahrain and Australia, as well as sixth in Saudi Arabia which has a similar track layout to the upcoming Miami GP.

George Russell has been sensational for Mercedes this season despite their woes, as the former Williams driver has outscored Lewis Hamilton by 21 points after four races, seeing him sit fourth in the World Driver’s Championship, notably scoring a podium in Australia, as well as finishing fourth in Imola.

Notably, Verstappen has won every race that he has finished this season, in both Saudi Arabia and Imola, whilst Leclerc has won at both Bahrain and Australia with dominant displays ahead of the Dutchman.

Upgrades for Imola saw Red Bull reap the rewards with a 1-2 finish as Verstappen dominated in Italy, whilst Sergio Perez scored back to back second-place finishes for Christian Horner’s team, having also managed to do the same at Albert Park.

Valtteri Bottas is having a superb season for a much improved Alfa Romeo team, having scored 24 points, just four fewer than former teammate Hamilton. The flying Finn scored a season-best fifth place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

As mentioned above, Russell is fourth in the World Driver’s Championship having accumulated 49 points from four races, whilst Lando Norris pulled off a stunning drive in the McLaren to finish third in the last GP, moving the 22-year-old Brit up to sixth in the World Driver’s Championship.

By the current pattern of this season, Leclerc could win the Miami GP, as neither the Ferrari or Verstappen have won back to back GPs this season.

Carlos Sainz will be desperate to bounce back from two very disappointing races in a row that has seen the Spaniard fail to make it past lap one in either of them. The Spaniard had managed second and third-placed finishes in the opening two races of the season at Sakhir and Jeddah prior to his recent misfortunes.

As mentioned above, Perez will be expected to challenge for the podium in the race with the Red Bulls looking significantly better at Imola.

Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen has been one of the biggest success stories of the season. The Dane has inspired Haas F1 Team since his return, making the most of this season’s much-improved car, driving it to fifth in Bahrain, as well as ninth-place finishes at both Jeddah and Imola.

Daniel Ricciardo has only managed one points finish this season, having suffered from his lap one collision with Sainz at Imola last time out. The Australian will be encouraged by McLaren’s improvements so far and will be looking for a similar performance to this which saw him finish sixth at his home GP in Melbourne.

Perez will be aiming for his third podium in a row at Miami this weekend, with the Mexican looking to take advantage of the circuit's high-speed straights which have been likened to Jeddah. The Red Bulls are known for their incredible straight-line pace this season.

Norris has managed back to back top-six finishes since the Saudi Arabia GP having finished fifth and third in his last two races. Ricciardo will be looking to get in the points having been outperformed by his teammate so far this season in what now looks like a very competitive car.

Bottas and Magnussen are eighth and 10th in the World Driver’s Championship at present, with both drivers taking advantage of Ferrari’s superb power unit to record top 10 finishes in 75% of the races that they have competed in this season.

The Red Bulls were dominant in Imola, which could potentially give Verstappen an edge here due to the Miami GP track looking very high speed.

Regardless of what happens, Leclerc will expect to finish on the podium as he comfortably did in his first three races prior to his spin at Imola, whilst Perez will also be on the tails of the Ferrari, hence why a top-six finish is likely for the Mexican.

Norris has finished third and fifth places in his last two outings for McLaren, whilst the Brit's former teammate Sainz will be looking to recapture the form and confidence that saw the Spaniard score 38 points in the first two races of the season.

As previously mentioned, Bottas is having a superb campaign and is just four points shy of last season’s teammate Hamilton who will be desperate to bounce back from his 13th place finish in Imola, something that was a shock, in general, considering his teammate Russel finished in fourth.

Ricciardo will be looking to refind the pace he had at Australia when he finished sixth, as the former Renault driver was caught up in a first-lap incident with Sainz that significantly hampered his race.