Not for the first time in his Formula 1 career, reigning World Champion Max Verstappen was subjected to boos ahead of Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, during a pre-race introduction to each driver.
Ahead of the second Miami GP on Sunday, each driver was introduced to the crowd by rapper LL Cool J, with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez having received the biggest cheer.
Similar to the reception he received at the United States Grand Prix last season, Verstappen was met by boos and jeers after he was introduced, despite several Dutch flags having been spotted in the grandstands.
As always, the 25-year-old wasn’t really bothered by the frosty reception, with the two-time World Champion putting it down to him “winning”.
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“I think if I would be driving in the back nobody would do anything in terms of reaction,” Verstappen said.
“It’s normal when you are winning and they don’t like who is winning. It’s something for me that is absolutely fine.
“As long as I stand on the top that is the most important. I take the trophy home and they go back to their houses and they can have a nice evening.”
Following the interesting pre-race introduction, Verstappen went on to win his second consecutive race at the Miami International Autodrome, following a stunning display.
The Red Bull driver breezed through the field from ninth on the grid and actually led the bulk of the race, before pitting in the closing stages.
He emerged from the pits just under two-seconds behind Perez, before comfortably overtaking the Mexican due to his superior grip.
The result saw Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship increase to 14 points ahead of the upcoming triple-header, with his result having actually been better than he was expecting following qualifying.
“Yesterday I said to myself minimum P2 because I think that is where we should finish anyway with the car we have.
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“But it’s always difficult to know what is going to happen. If you have a terrible lap then you make it even harder for yourself, but luckily it didn’t work out too bad just making sure we didn’t have any damage on the car.
“But then again it’s all about the performance of the car, how you feel in the car and the performance you can extract.
“Luckily that all worked out today and you can move forward and win the race.”