Red Bull boss Christian Horner has explained why McLaren had the legs to catch and pass Max Verstappen with ease.

Having started from pole position, Max Verstappen gave the McLarens a tough time in defence but there was a sense of inevitability to their eventual overtakes as the Woking-based squad romped home to clinch a Miami 1-2.

Christian Horner: Brake issues added to Max Verstappen issues

Verstappen eventually came home in fourth place, having been unable to hold back the McLaren onslaught before an unfortunately-timed Virtual Safety Car wrecked his chances of a podium as George Russell managed to get ahead of him.

Verstappen clearly didn’t have the pace to contend for the win, at a circuit where high temperatures and high tyre degradation played into the hands of McLaren.

Red Bull’s lack of competitiveness was exacerbated by brake issues, as Red Bull boss Christian Horner explained after the chequered flag.

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“I think we had some issues with the brakes that Max hasn’t been happy with, and I think that might be compounding or contributing to the issue,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com.

“But I think that the drivers talk about a numbness in the car once things start to overheat.

“So, plenty to go away and reflect on after this race. But I think McLaren just does a better job of keeping the temps, certainly on this type of circuit at this venue, under control.”

Red Bull’s Miami drubbing comes just two weeks after a much more competitive outing in Saudi Arabia, where Verstappen looked capable of claiming the win from pole position if a five-second time penalty hadn’t been given to him.

The swing in performance, Horner said, is indicative of the McLaren’s greater ability to thrive in even a wider range of conditions.

“Of course, it varies from circuit to circuit – in the last race we had the pace to beat the McLarens,” he said.

“This race has exposed their advantage, and they’ve been able to operate in a window that they’ve been very effective with. Of course, when you look at that performance, it feels like a lot to find, but we’ve seen how quickly from circuit to circuit things can change.

“We know the areas that we need to improve, and they haven’t changed from before we arrived here.”

Christian Horner: No eureka moment ahead

With Red Bull continuing to develop the RB21 for now before thoughts turn to F1 2026, the ability to analyse McLaren’s strengths and attempt to put some of those learnings into practice means there’s optimism for the upgrade package’s potential when it’s rolled out at Imola, but Horner said there isn’t any one key area that might transform Red Bull’s competitiveness.

“I don’t think there’s a eureka moment, but I think it’s very fine, because if you look at Jeddah, the race pace and the degradation we had there was better than, or at least the same and marginally better than McLaren,” he said.

“Two weeks later, they haven’t bought a huge amount or a different car specification. It’s more circuit-specific that has exposed these issues. I think the braking issues that we’ve had have compounded our issue because then you lose control of… everything just runs too hot.”

F1 returns to Europe for the next three races, with temperatures at Imola expected to be cooler than the humid Miami – might these cooler temperatures bring Red Bull back into play?

“We’re back into Europe, different types of circuit, different nature of circuit,” he said.

“I mean, McLaren has got the car to beat at the moment. That’s quite clear. So, yeah, they’re going to be going to be tough to beat over the next few races.

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