Red Bull and Max Verstappen looked quick again in Jeddah last time out but there is a difference at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix which is not likely to work in their favour
Max Verstappen heads into this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix on the back of a promising display last time out. In Jeddah, his Red Bull team made strong progress over the course of the weekend and he was in contention for the win.
But a penalty for his actions while duelling wheel-to-wheel with eventual winner Oscar Piastri proved costly. And he may struggle to make up for that in Florida this weekend as a key change to the event is not likely to help Verstappen and Red Bull in their quest for glory.
A huge factor in Red Bull’s strong pace in the Saudi race was because they used the three practice sessions effectively to set up the car optimally for the fast street circuit. However, in Miami, there will only be one hour of running for teams to get their cars right before the competitive action begins.
That’s because it is the second of the six Sprint events set to be held over the course of this season. After first practice on Friday comes qualifying for the Sprint race, which will take place on Saturday before qualifying for the main Grand Prix which is then held, as usual, on Sunday.
It used to be the case that, once Sprint qualifying had begun, the cars were placed under parc ferme conditions for the rest of the weekend meaning no more setup changes could be made. That rule has since been relaxed and, after the Sprint race, there is a short window before qualifying in which teams can make changes.
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That means learnings can be taken from Sprint race performance and applied to the setup of the cars for the main Grand Prix. However, it doesn’t always work out so well, like when Lewis Hamilton won the Sprint in China last month, only for the changes Ferrari then made to his car to reduce its competitiveness.
In any case, Red Bull will have less time to hone in on the optimum settings for Verstappen’s car this weekend. And, as they have often needed the time to do that so far this season, former F1 racer Giedo van der Garde predicts it may be a tough weekend for his fellow Dutchman.
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“As a driver, you can make a difference everywhere, but Miami is a track with a fairly high tyre wear, so that will be a thing,” the former Caterham driver told RacingNews365. “However, if [Red Bull] can find a good setup for that, then [Verstappen] can definitely compete.
“The disadvantage is that this weekend is a Sprint race weekend. The last couple of times Red Bull was always a bit searching [for answers on sprint weekends].
“In Jeddah, we saw that after Friday, which was not quite right initially. Red Bull managed to turn things around with a good setup. That opportunity is not there now. The first free practice is immediately followed by Sprint qualifying.
“And that makes a sprint weekend always a bit of a disadvantage for Red Bull. On the other hand, Verstappen will compete for the podium, but I do think the McLaren will be very fast [in Miami] again.”
