Sergio Perez had the benefit of starting the Miami Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, but not even an eight place advantage over his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen could help him seal the deal in the race.
Verstappen had lost out in yesterday's qualifying session due to a late red flag, leaving him lining up for the start of the race in ninth place on the grid.
The team opted to split strategies, putting Verstappen on a long first stint on hard tyres while giving Perez a set of mediums to ensure he kept the lead of the race at the start and was able to use the clear air to pull out a big lead.
The first part of the plan worked, with Perez sweeping across the front of Aston Martin to ensure he went into the first corner of the race in front. But when it came to pulling away, he hit a major snag.
"I think the medium initially was really poor, worse than expected," Perez said. "The first stint was really poor with the graining that we had on that initial pace.
"That compromised quite a lot of our race because we didn't have too much of a difference on tyre," he explained.
While Perez was unable to pull away from the pursuing Alonso, Verstappen was effortlessly carving his way past all the cars between himself and the race leader with frightening efficiency.
By the time Perez pitted on lap 20 to switch to a new set of the hard tyres for the remainder of the race, Verstappen was in second and able to assume the lead. The hard tyres continued to provide enough pace to keep him out in front.
Verstappen didn't have to pit until lap 46, and while his pit stop wasn't quick enough to get him back out in front, it made little difference: a new set of mediums for the remaining 11 laps saw him dismiss Perez almost immediately.
"Max had a tremendous pace on the hard tyre," Perez admitted to Jenson Button in parc ferme after the finish. "I think I've got to analyse what went wrong today because we simply didn't have the pace.
"Max was particularly strong today so [it was] a well-deserved win for him," he acknowledged.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insisted that the difference in tyre strategies between the two drivers had not been a huge factor in the outcome of the Miami GP.
"To be honest with you today, I think with the pace [Max] had, it wouldn't have mattered if he just started on the soft, the medium or the hard tyre!" he said.
Perez had been hoping to use this weekend's race to get back on an even footing with Verstappen in the championship battle.
The Mexican had lost ground in Australia but trimmed the gap back to just six points with victory in Baku. But it's now back up to 14 points after Miami, with Verstappen having also picked up the bonus lap for fastest lap.
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