Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
miami — Max Verstappen Red Bull halved the gap to the leading pack with an upgrade package brought to the Miami Grand Prix.
Verstappen qualified fifth for Saturday’s sprint race by 0.6 seconds Lando Norris‘ McLaren, but this season looked more competitive than ever before.
Verstappen and Red Bull were a big step behind the lead pack in the first three races and he spent much of the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of March battling the Alpine. Pierre Gasly.
“It feels more together,” Verstappen said of the team’s upgraded car. “Obviously, (there are) still some things we’re working on, but this is a really positive step for us.
“You know, the last few races we’ve been over a second behind. I’d say we’ve almost halved that gap now. So that’s positive.
“We’re still very weak in the first sector, which is mainly high-speed. So we know we have to work on that. But yeah, the rest were looking a little more together, so a little bit happy with that. At least it looks like we’ve cleaned up the midfield a little bit.”
Verstappen’s own views on Red Bull’s new car and the 2026 Formula 1 car in general have dominated the sport’s news agenda since the first test of the year.
The four-time world champion has been the most outspoken critic of the sport’s new V6 hybrid turbo and battery collection and deployment as part of qualifying and racing.
He called the new cars “anti-racing” and compared them to Mario Kart, while strongly hinting that he was seriously considering walking away from the sport altogether by the end of 2026 after the last race.
F1 made some changes to the rules ahead of the weekend, mainly aimed at mitigating extreme lifting and coasting drivers work through corners to generate battery power.
Speaking on Thursday, Verstappen called the tweaks “tickling”, saying they fell far short of the changes F1 needs to make to improve the new generation of cars.
Asked if the car felt more to his liking in sprint qualifying, Verstappen said: “It feels a bit more natural, a bit more together. Obviously, it’s still not where I want it to be, but it at least lets me trust it a bit more and I can basically take a bit more time out of it.”
– Miami Grand Prix: Lando Norris hails upgraded McLaren with ‘perfect result’
– F1’s Miami Grand Prix schedule in doubt amid threat of thunderstorms
– Miami Grand Prix: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fastest in sole practice session with Mercedes
