Max Verstappen missed out on a podium in the Miami Grand Prix despite starting the race from pole, after being overtaken by both McLarens and impacted by a Virtual Safety Car.
Lando Norris attempted to overtake Verstappen at the start, but the McLaren driver was forced to take to the escape road to avoid a collision which dropped him outside of the top five.
After passing the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the opening laps, Oscar Piastri had got himself into a position to take the lead from Verstappen.
Despite defending well, Verstappen was eventually pressured into a mistake by Piastri at the first corner. The Dutchman missed his braking point, enabling Piastri to cut back through and take the lead.
Verstappen could be heard remonstrating with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase about a problem with his car, and unheard team radio messages shed more light on the problems he was dealing with in his RB21.
Max Verstappen frustrated by brake problems during Miami Grand Prix
The RB21 is known for being a tough car to drive, and the problems Verstappen faced with his brakes in the Miami GP didn’t make things any easier for the Dutchman to hold onto a top three finish.
The problems began early into the race, with Verstappen reporting the problems and Lambiase initially giving him a fix over team radio while battling Piastri. He would later be overtaken by the Australian at Turn 1.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Lambaise: “We think you can manage plus one on the offset, Max.” | |
| [Verstappen gets overtaken by Piastri] Verstappen: “S— brakes, man, honestly. Useless.” |
|
| Lambaise: “Max B-Bal 5 would be forward steep and rearwards late entry, if you want to. | |
| Verstappen: “That doesn’t work.” | |
| Lambaise: “OK, understood.” | |
| Verstappen: “It’s not biting and then locking through the apex.” |
Verstappen would go on to shed more light on the problems as the race progressed, with him being overtaken by Norris and dropping further behind both McLarens. This effectively opened up the possibility of him being overtaken by George Russell in the event of a Safety Car.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Verstappen: “Very inconsistent braking. Sometimes it bites and then it stops and doesn’t.” | |
| Lambaise: “OK, 26 laps remaining, Max.” | |
| Verstappen: “[Turns] seven and eight, it’s still understeering.” | |
| Lambaise: “Max, if you would like to make more efficient use of the battery, just click the overtake halfway along the straights.” |
The Dutchman would go on to finish in P4 after being jumped by Russell during a Virtual Safety Car for Gabriel Bortoleto, who stopped on track between Turns 16 and 17. Verstappen crossed the line 39.9s behind winner Piastri.
George Russell closes in on Max Verstappen for third
The podium for Russell puts him within six points of the Dutchman after Miami, with Verstappen now on 99 points and the Mercedes driver on 93 points.
While it might not seem significant at such an early stage of the season, Verstappen has an exit clause in his current Red Bull contract that could see him leave it early if he is not in the top three midway through the season.
| Position | Drivers’ Championship | Points |
| 1 |
Oscar Piastri |
131 |
| 2 |
Lando Norris |
115 |
| 3 |
Max Verstappen |
99 |
| 4 |
George Russell |
93 |
| 5 |
Charles Leclerc |
53 |
| 6 |
Andrea Kimi Antonelli |
48 |
| 7 |
Lewis Hamilton |
41 |
| 8 |
Alexander Albon |
30 |
| 9 |
Esteban Ocon |
14 |
| 10 |
Lance Stroll |
14 |
Red Bull has been comfortably quicker in the races compared to Mercedes, but the latter has been finding workarounds to extract more performance.
Mercedes brought a lot of circuit-specific upgrades to Miami and appeared to pay off, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli taking pole in the Sprint race.
Russell’s pace was also good enough to finish six seconds ahead of Verstappen in the race, despite his brake problems, which is the second time this season he has outscored the Dutchman.
