Max Verstappen: The car is allowing me to trust it a bit more which is a really positive step

The four-time Formula 1 world champion, a two time winner in Miami, has endured a difficult start to Formula 1’s new rules era and arrived in Florida after failing to finish higher than 6th in the opening 3 races and 1 sprint.

“Today the car felt a lot more together, which was good,” Verstappen said after setting a 1:28.461, 0.592 slower than McLaren pole sitter Lando Norris.

“Of course, there are still things that we are working on but it has been a really positive step for us. The last few races we were over a second behind. I would say we have almost halved that gap now, so that is positive.

“We are still quite weak in the first sector, which is mainly high speed, so we know that we mainly need to work on that. Everything else seemed all a bit more together, so we are happier with that; at least it seems like we have cleared the midfield.

“It is still not exactly where we want it to be but at least I feel like the car is allowing me to trust it a bit more and I can get a bit more lap time out of it, which is positive.”

Team mate Isack Hadjar qualified 9th, 1.553 off Norris’s pole time, and admitted Red Bull had work to do overnight: “I’ve not been this far off Max before, so we need to work out why overnight and come back stronger for the Sprint and then Qualifying later on."

Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said the break since the previous round had allowed the team to understand “more fundamental issues” with the car: “We have got on top of, not only generic performance, but also some more fundamental issues with the car that we had.

"Max is feeling extremely comfortable and that reflected in his performance. Overall, it has been a very good day and a positive start but we won’t stop there, we will look to build on that overnight,” Lambiase said.

Red Bull’s opening three races of the 2026 Formula 1 season exposed a team struggling to adapt to the new power unit era. Once the benchmark, they started on the back foot, with Max Verstappen unable to extract consistent performance and finishing no higher than P6 across the first three grands prix.

A lengthy break before Miami offered a reset. Early signs suggest progress, but Red Bull remain in recovery mode, chasing ground lost at the start of a season that has already shifted the competitive order.