Max: Verstappen: I don’t feel like I’m a passenger anymore, there's light at the end of the tunnel

Four time Formula 1 world champion, Verstappen, who had struggled for pace and consistency in the opening races of the 2026 campaign, said recent changes had fundamentally altered his confidence behind the wheel.

“I don’t feel like I’m a passenger anymore in the car,” the Dutch ace said. “Before nothing really worked. It could understeer, it could snap, it could feel different from one session to the other without even touching parts.”

Red Bull arrived in Miami with a significant upgrade package after a five week break following the early season races in Australia, China and Japan, and Verstappen said the gains were not just about new parts but a better understanding of the car.

Verstappen admitted: “We understood a lot of stuff. The car just feels a lot more together now and I can finally drive how I want to drive with my steering inputs. That helps a lot.”

The improvement was evident in qualifying, where Verstappen put the car on the front row alongside Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, a sharp contrast to earlier struggles that left Red Bull more than a second off the pace at times.

“For us, bringing the car back together and making me more comfortable really pays off,” Verstappen said. “To be on the front row is way better than I expected coming into this weekend.”

He added that the progress offered encouragement after a frustrating opening phase of the new regulations era: “There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Verstappen said. “From here we can push on and try to close the gap further.”

Despite the gains, Verstappen cautioned that Red Bull were still learning with the new package, particularly in areas such as energy management, where teams continue to refine performance under the 2026 power unit rules.

“I think everyone is learning every single weekend,” he said. “We are a new manufacturer, so our learning curve is probably a bit steeper, but it’s getting better every time.”

With conditions expected to change on race day, Verstappen said the focus would now shift to execution: “Let’s first have a good start. From there we’ll see what we can do.”

In the other Red Bull, Hadjar said progress made by the team in Miami has put them in a stronger position heading into the race, despite frustration over his own qualifying performance: “The positive is that we made a big step and it leaves us in a much better shape ahead of the race,” he said.

Qualifying, left the French driver wanting more after he again secured ninth on the grid with a lap of 1:28.789, nearly a second down on Verstappen

Hadjar revealed that limitations on the straights made it difficult to maximise the overall lap, and added: “After quali there was a bit of frustration about my own performance as I didn’t deliver the laps I wanted to on the final runs.

"There was definitely more lap time to gain from my side. I struggled with performance on the straight, which limited pulling it all together,” concluded Hadjar.