Max Verstappen has stated that Red Bull made significant progress over the weekend, though the team still lacks the speed and performance to fight for wins, after finishing fifth in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
The four-time world champion enjoyed driving a heavily upgraded car while chasing his first victory of the season, but a first-lap off-track moment compromised his race.
“I lost the rear and tried to minimize the time lost,” he explained about that chaotic opening lap, which forced an early pit stop. “The hard tire didn’t work for us at the start, and it was tricky,” he added. “We dropped quite a bit in the pack. Maybe I could have ended up where Oscar (Piastri) finished, third, if we had done everything perfectly—but it’s always easy to say that after the fact. Unfortunately, we’re still a little short, but we’ll improve. I don’t know how much more pace we can find.”
The 28-year-old Dutchman admitted that, despite the car upgrades, he doesn’t believe he could have genuinely challenged for the win in Miami. “It’s been tough,” he said. “We’ve improved a lot this weekend, but we’re still missing something, and there’s definitely more pace to unlock.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Isack Hadjar, started from the back of the grid after being disqualified in qualifying and then retired on lap six following a crash. He hit the barriers in the chicane, triggering a safety car that benefited Verstappen by allowing a cheaper pit stop.
“It was really tough, and obviously breaking the car annoyed me a lot,” Hadjar confessed. “Today it was easy points with the car I had, so I feel like I threw it all away. I don’t really remember what happened because everything was so fast. I felt a big hit and didn’t see it coming. The car was broken, and I couldn’t stop it. This shows how important it is to stay focused, and I wasn’t.”
