Max Verstappen may have forgotten what it was like to finish as the runner-up. Before last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, he hadn’t done so since the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, more than a year ago.
He’d topped every meaningful session in Florida, converting sprint pole before setting the fastest time in Saturday’s qualifying too. But the threat of Lando Norris and McLaren loomed increasingly large in the race.
Norris opted to run long on his medium tyres and lapped at a formidable pace. But for the safety car, he would likely have come out in the group of cars behind Verstappen, one that featured teammate Oscar Piastri and the two Ferraris.
He would then have had to execute swift overtakes and hunt down the Dutchman with the aid of his fresher rubber. It would have been a difficult task, but not an impossible one.
As it turned out, the crash between Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant effectively handed him a free stop. He came back out in the lead and then streaked clear of Verstappen in the final stint, winning by 7.5 seconds.
The 26-year-old was magnanimous in what was a rare defeat. He immediately took the opportunity to say well done to first-time winner Norris in parc ferme.
Max Verstappen disagrees with Christian Horner on Red Bull issues in Miami
According to F1 Insider, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner cited ‘significant’ damage to the floor of Verstappen’s car after a mistake at turn 14. The world champion clouted the bollard at the chicane and sent it into the middle of the track.
The incident brought out a brief virtual safety car as the marshals retrieved the bollard. Verstappen’s front wing remained intact despite the hit, but Horner says he scraped the underbody of his car and lost lap time.
However, Verstappen ‘has his doubts about these statements’. He says his RB20 didn’t feel any different, and insists his pace didn’t suffer.
On the one hand, he may naturally want to play down the extent of his mistake. But he was also reluctant to adopt any ‘excuse’ for a rare defeat.
Ferrari prepare ‘massive’ Imola upgrade to increase Red Bull pressure
After an exceedingly rare absence from the top step of the podium, everybody is now wondering whether Red Bull are vulnerable. It appears that their two closest rivals are making progress.
The Bulls struck first in the F1 development race with an upgrade package at round four in Japan, a race where they scored both a front-row lock-out and a one-two. Verstappen also comfortably beat Norris in China.
But McLaren responded with an ‘astonishing’ set of updates in Miami, and they now look a genuine threat. Norris had been the fastest driver in sprint qualifying but delivered his best time in SQ2 rather than SQ3, which meant he missed out on pole.
Worryingly for Horner and co., Ferrari are now set to play their hand. The Scuderia will introduce some ‘massive’ developments at the next race in Imola, potentially worth up to 0.25s.
Red Bull will bring more new parts too, but what matters is whether they can develop at the necessary pace to maintain their comfortable advantage. Adrian Newey recently admitted they were ‘struggling’ to find gains with their car after virtually perfecting their concept.
Neutrals will hope that Verstappen has to work much harder for his victories for the remainder of the year. Even Norris himself has said that his recent dominance could be viewed as ‘boring’.
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