The brand new Miami Grand Prix has been a difficult one for Daniel Ricciardo, while Max Verstappen's victory saw him close the gap to Championship leader Charles Leclerc. 
  
Despite showing some pace in the Grand Prix’s practice sessions earlier in the weekend, Ricciardo endured his share of bad luck that contributed to a 13th place finish. 
  
The problems started in Qualifying where after making it to Q1 with a decent run, a starting motor issue prevented the McLaren driver from getting out on track until the end of Q2 and qualifying 14th.
  
The 33-year-old then had a glimmer of hope at the start of what turned out to be a dramatic race as he made up two places on the first lap. 
  
But that’s as good as it got for Ricciardo as he lost those places not long after, before McLaren made a took a different strategy to other teams and pitted him last out of the drivers on lap 32. 
  
The decision to put him on hard tyres merely sent him to the back of the grid and gave him a mountain of work to do, although with a handful of drivers retiring, including teammate Lando Norris who crashed out nine laps later, Ricciardo eventually rose to P11. 
  
Unfortunately, the Australian was then handed a post-race penalty minutes after the chequered flag with five-second time penalty due to gaining an advantage after leaving the track – demoting him to P13. 
  
As for the fight up front, a brilliant opening stint from Verstappen helped him make easy work of Leclerc on the ninth lap, having passed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at the start. 
  
Once he gained the lead, he never looked like giving it up and had built a nice buffer over Leclerc, although a late safety car period brought them back together. 
  
For the last few laps, Leclerc piled on the pressure but Verstappen stood firm and held onto the lead as he claimed back-to-back wins. Both Leclerc and Sainz saw Ferrari claim a double podium finish. 

Making the victory all the sweeter was the fastest lap bonus point as Verstappen’s third win of the year reduced Leclerc’s overall lead to just 19 points. 
  
The Formula 1 World Championship heads to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix on 20-22 May.