It's no surprise that Max Verstappen is favourite for the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday (21:00 BST) as the world champion has won four of this season's five F1 races and has also been victorious in both previous races at the track.
Verstappen's only failure came when he was forced out of the race in Australia due to brake problems but he bounced back to win in Japan and China.
It will be interesting to see if the Dutchman faces a strong challenge in Florida this weekend with rival teams bringing car upgrades – but the Red Bull ace remains the man to beat.
- SERGIO PEREZ EACH-WAY
- GEORGE RUSSELL TOP-6 FINISH
- YUKIi TSUNODA POINTS FINISH
Perez Can Be Best Of The Rest
Verstappen is the only driver to have won a grand prix at the Miami street circuit outside the Miami Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium and it's a short price that he makes it a hat-trick of victories on Sunday.
There's a sprint race on Saturday again this week, as was the case in China, but this time teams have plenty of data to prepare themselves despite getting only one practice session before heading into sprint qualifying.
The daunting fact for Verstappen's rivals is that he has won both Miami races despite starting on pole in neither of them. He was third on the grid in 2022 behind both Ferraris and ninth last year after failing to set a lap time in final qualifying.
Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez finished second in Miami last year after taking pole but his performances have been stronger compared to his fellow Red Bull in 2024 than they were for most of last year.
The Mexican will have plenty of support in the stands in Florida and has finished on the podium in four of the five races this season to trail Verstappen by only 25 points in the championship.
He looks worth backing each-way to prove to be best of the rest again at around 12/1.
George Can Finish Strong
McLaren and Mercedes are both hoping their in-season development can help to reduce the gap between themselves and Red Bull and both teams are taking upgrade packages to Miami.
The British team are building on a strong platform after Lando Norris was runner-up to Verstappen in China, but it's likely that any improvement they have made will be better displayed at other tracks.
McLaren prosper when there are plenty of high-speed corners, while Miami is largely a combination of slow turns and long straights.
George Russell has been making the best of a tough situation so far this season at Mercedes, outperforming his seven-time world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton at every race, and he is capable of at least finishing in the top six, and even has an outside chance of recording his first podium finish of the year.
Russell has been fifth and fourth in the first two Miami races and any extra pace available would assist his prospects of landing another top-six finish.
Tsunoda To Return To Top 10
Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda has claimed all seven of the team's points this season and has a good chance of adding to the total in Miami after both cars retired in China due to collisions.
Tsunoda had finished ahead of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at the previous three races and after finishing 12th and 11th in the first two Miami events he can continue his progress into the top 10 this week.
The RB team are taking updates for their cars to Miami and any steps forward can solidify their chances of running in the top 10.
