Why Max Verstappen’s bracing for a tough Miami sprint race

Four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen expects to be in for a tough time in the Miami Grand Prix sprint race, citing expected high temperatures and Red Bull’s recurring understeer issues at low speed.

Verstappen was the only driver to take two flying laps in sprint qualifying, where he improved on his second tour of the Miami International Autodrome to move ahead of George Russell – who was also an early taker for a lap in SQ3.

When the order shook out, Verstappen was classified fourth – a quarter of a second shy of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s pole time in the session. The Dutchman was also subject to a summons from the stewards after apparently failing to follow the race director’s instructions regarding minimum delta times, but was only handed a reprimand.

Verstappen was nonetheless sanguine about his chances, stating that he expected a struggle with the high heat and it was up to him to make the best of it; circuit temperatures had escalated to 50C by the start of sprint qualifying, with similar conditions expected on Saturday.

“Honestly, it’s always very difficult to say [how we’ll get on] in a sprint weekend,” Verstappen began, “because there’s no real proper data in long runs, because you don’t know what others are doing with fuel loads and stuff. 

“But just going off my own feeling with how I also felt just balance-wise with the car, I think it will be tough with the heat.

“Like I said, we know our limitations, so we just need to try and make the best of it.”

An analysis of GPS data shows that Verstappen was tracking at over two tenths up on Antonelli’s final tour, but lost all of that margin by the end of the run to Turn 11. He then struggled to maintain traction out of the slow-speed Turn 14-15-16 complex, ceding even further time.

Verstappen had also concluded that the Red Bull had been strong in the higher-speed sections, but reckoned the low-speed understeer was sapping at his overall competitiveness.

“I think what we also did in Q3 was good,” he added. “The tyres are holding on quite well, but fortunately, already from FP1, just driving with a lot of understeer in the car and around here with all these low-speed corners, you just lose quite a bit of lap time. 

“I think you can see in the first sector we’re quite competitive because that’s where a few high-speed corners are, but as soon as you get to the low speed, we just lack quite a bit of grip.

“But P4 is alright. It’s not where I want to be, but you also need to be realistic with the limitations that we have at the moment, and I think it was still quite close.”

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Photos from Miami GP – Practice & Sprint Qualifying