The Miami weekend was a big improvement at Red Bull Racing—just not big enough. There was much to take on board over the recent Miami Grand Prix weekend, with the tweaks to the Formula 1 power unit rules and the five-week break after the previous event in Japan giving teams time to attack major upgrade programs.
One of the key lessons was that Red Bull Racing has made a clear step forward from its early season performances, through both upgrades and generally making better use of the car it has. It had been a frustrating start to the 2026 season for Max Verstappen, with the initial promise of the new Ford-backed power unit tempered by poor reliability, and wider issues with the car.
In Miami, things began to look up when the Dutchman qualified second, beaten only by championship leader Kimi Antonelli. His race was spoiled by a first-lap spin that sent him tumbling down the midfield pack, and then, as he tried to regain ground battling his way back up, the team took a gamble and gave him an early pit stop.
View Price on AmazonThat seemed to work initially as he moved up the order, but his ultra-long second stint was a stretch for his hard tires. He eventually had to settle for a distant fifth after what was had been a hectic afternoon for him. “I lost the rear into Turn 2,” Verstappen said when Road & Track asked if he’d had fun. “And then of course I tried to minimize the time loss by doing that three-sixty. I thought I was going to crash, but then I floored it, and managed to do a good three-sixty.
If F1 doesn't work out, I can always go rally! After that, I think the pace was not too bad on the medium [tire], but as soon as I swapped to the hard compound, it was just a lot more difficult. And I think—now after the race, it is easy to say, of course—but I think that stint was just a bit too long.” A big package of aero updates appeared to work, while mechanical tweaks to the steering to give the drivers a much better feel also paid dividends.
It was also notable that even through he had a better car and was able to fight with the quicker guys, nothing had changed for Verstappen in terms of what he thinks about the 2026 rules and how the cars have to be driven. “I mean, my car drives a bit better,” he conceded. “But what I said before about the regulations is still the same…”
Nevertheless, the weekend was a good reminder that one should never write-off Verstappen and Red Bull. We might not see a repeat of 2025, when they fought back into title contention and at times left McLaren trailing, but the Dutch driver looks at least set to be in the mix for podiums. Miami was thus a good weekend for RBR boss Laurent Mekies after the recent disappointments, and amid suggestions that the team is not the force that it used to be.
“There is a definitive step forward,” the Frenchman said. “We left Japan one-point-two seconds away from pole; China, one-point-zero seconds away from pole. The competition was not going to wait for us with their updates. We knew that on top of the development race, we had to solve some of our issues, and we knew there was lap time in it.”
The numbers told a positive story. “To see us this weekend qualifying six-tenths away from [sprint] pole on Friday and less than two-tenths away from pole on Saturday is a big indication of the size of the progress," he said. "What number is the correct one? We don't know, but compared to where we were, it's something much better than anything we have been able to show this year.”
The race was also solid, even if the final result didn’t really reflect that. “I think overall, big picture, again, race pace was strong, confirming the good signs shown in quali,” said Mekies. “Not strong enough for P1 and P2, but perhaps able to put us in a fight between a P3, P4 and P5, so again some things that we had not shown so far this season. And it's credit to everyone back in Milton Keynes for such an important step forward.
Source: roadandtrack.com
