Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen was once again thwarted by the inherent pace of his car at the Miami Grand Prix.
After a phenomenal performance in qualifying, Max Verstappen started from pole position at the Miami Grand Prix, despite how fast McLaren’s cars have been this season.
Juan Pablo Montoya even claimed Verstappen was annoying in qualifying such was the surprising nature of his dominance on Saturday.
He had to fight off Lando Norris during the first set of corners, shuffling the Brit down the pecking order and briefly having to hold off Kimi Antonelli who jumped up to P2.
However, it wasn’t long before Oscar Piastri navigated the Italian teenager and quickly caught up to the back of Verstappen’s Red Bull car.
What followed was arguably the best wheel-to-wheel battle of the season so far between the two most in-form drivers on the grid.
Eventually, Verstappen had to relent to the championship-leading Australian, but not before he displayed some incredible racecraft that was reminiscent of the great Michael Schumacher.
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Max Verstappen ‘cat-like’ driving reminded Martin Brundle of Michael Schumacher
Martin Brundle and David Croft were commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1 (4/5 9:24 pm) as Verstappen and Piastri battled for the lead.
Croft said, “Max Verstappen leads under pressure from the championship leader Oscar Piastri, the man in second place in the championship Lando Norris.
“And here comes Piastri again,” he declared before Verstappen came on the team radio to complain about how slippery his Red Bull was to drive.
Croft continued, “These two are doing a brilliant job out there, and does that mean that the tyres are starting to degrade?”
Brundle replied, “You can see the back end trying to step out with Max through turns four, five, six.
“But he can handle when it does that, like Michael Schumacher used to be able to, and Senna.
“Somehow Max is prepared to drive through that kind of sliding in the knowledge that it’ll stick, or his cat-like reactions will collect it up.”
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Max Verstappen left frustrated by Red Bull’s lack of pace and safety car timings at the Miami Grand Prix
Last year, Verstappen was pleased for Norris after he won his first Grand Prix with the aid of a well-time safety car.
Twelve months later, the four-time world champion is unlikely to be as pleased with the McLaren star after watching him drive off into the distance.
The rain that was forecast never came that would have potentially shaken up the grid, and once both McLarens overtook Verstappen, he had no way to stay within touching distance.
Verstappen also lost out to George Russell during the second virtual safety car when Oliver Bearman came to a standstill.
Damon Hill spotted Verstappen squirming around in qualifying, highlighting just how difficult the RB21 is to drive.
Verstappen has been compared to Schumacher in the past, but they’ll mean very little to the Dutchman if he’s not closing in on his championship record.
