The Miami Grand Prix delivered a welcome uplift for Max Verstappen while team-mate Isack Hadjar endured a difficult weekend. After a poor run in the opening rounds, Red Bull’s upgrades over the five-week break allowed Verstappen to rejoin the front-running conversation, even as Hadjar lost momentum.
Red Bull had struggled through Australia, China and Japan, with Verstappen unable to qualify higher than eighth and registering a best race finish of sixth as Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren had the upper hand. In Miami, however, the Dutchman looked a lot closer to the leaders. He was fifth in the Sprint, took a strong second in Saturday’s qualifying and, despite a start-line spin that forced him to fight back from the midfield on Sunday, recovered to finish fifth. That recovery denied a clear, uninterrupted reading on the RB22’s updated race pace but nonetheless underlined the progress.
Verstappen had been openly frustrated after the China and Japan rounds — even hinting at the possibility of leaving the sport because he disliked the new regulations — but his tone after qualifying in Miami was considerably brighter. He said he was pleased with the direction the team is heading and could now see ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, with the focus on closing the gap further.
He credited a package of changes that made the car far more predictable and allowed him to push harder. Previously, he said, the car often felt inconsistent: understeer one moment, snap the next, and sometimes different between sessions without apparent changes. The recent upgrades, he explained, helped him feel more in control, able to drive more with steering inputs and better manage energy. Verstappen acknowledged that understanding the new cars is still a work in progress for everyone, but said Red Bull’s learning curve and the team’s efforts have started to pay off.
Miami’s upswing for Verstappen also highlighted the growing gap between him and Hadjar. Since Daniel Ricciardo’s departure in 2018, team-mates have frequently struggled to match Verstappen’s benchmark and Hadjar’s weekend was another example of the champion pulling ahead.
Hadjar had shown promise early this season — qualifying third in Australia and generally running in the same neighborhood as Verstappen — but as the RB22 was developed in ways that suited Verstappen’s driving, the difference widened. Verstappen was nearly a second quicker than Hadjar in the final phase of Sprint qualifying, and while the gap narrowed slightly in full qualifying, their respective second- and ninth-place results underlined the margin.
Hadjar’s race was compromised further by a technical infringement that led to a demotion to the back of the grid. From there he clipped a barrier, breaking his front suspension, and struck another barrier soon after, ending his day. Frustrated, the 21-year-old admitted he had been too eager while trying to make moves and that he had ‘ruined’ his race. He described the weekend as the first time he had really struggled with his overall pace and said he needed to ‘dig deep’ to avoid a repeat.
Red Bull, though, played down the significance of the setback. Team principal Laurent Mekies pointed to a straight-line power deficit on Hadjar’s car for much of the weekend, as well as the team’s own error that forced him to start from the back after the legality issue. Mekies said Hadjar had been finding the right rhythm and showed strong pace in the limited running he had, so the team was not overly worried and expected him to be back on pace in Montreal.
Hadjar’s resilience provided additional reassurance. The French youngster bounced back strongly from a tearful crash before the start of his debut race last year, enjoyed a solid rookie season with Racing Bulls and earned his Red Bull promotion on the strength of that recovery. Former world champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jenson Button echoed that view, recalling how Hadjar recovered after early setbacks last season and predicting the incident in Miami was likely to be a one-off.
Formula 1 now heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, which also includes a Sprint. Verstappen will be looking to build on Miami’s progress, while Hadjar must regroup quickly if he is to stay in close contention with his team-mate.