Team notes: Red Bull lose out to McLaren in Miami
Considering Red Bull’s winning streak since the introduction of the ground-effect cars, it was a challenging day for the Milton Keynes-based outfit in Miami.
Max Verstappen topped the sprint shootout, won the 100km dash before he went on to set the benchmark in the main qualifying session. However, he did not look to have the comfortable pace advantage he usually enjoys in races.
He was first lucky not to get tagged by his team-mate Sergio Perez at the start when the Mexican outbraked himself into Turn 1. After the lucky start, he appeared to control proceedings, but he never looked utterly comfortable behind the wheel of the RB20. He was misfortune with the safety car as Lando Norris had a ‘cheap’ pit stop with the interruption. However, the Dutchman was unable to offer a challenge to his British rival in the closing stages of the race.
Commenting on his day, Verstappen said: “Ultimately today we were not quick enough; the safety car did not help us but we still had plenty of opportunities to win the race and unfortunately we lacked pace. When we took the car back to the garage, we also found that the floor was damaged and had a hole in which could have been picked up from hitting the cone.
“We also struggled with the tyres and balance of the car all weekend, and I never felt too comfortable in the car. In the high speed I was understeering and we also struggled a lot with the grip with the tyres. It wasn’t our best weekend and it really shows that everything needs to work well to win races and it is not as easy as people might think. However, I am happy for Lando. Your first win is always emotional and he drove a great race: it was a long time coming and he deserved it today.”
His teammate Sergio Perez looked close to Verstappen on the first two days of the Miami Grand Prix, but his pace completely faded in the race, and even a fortunate timing with the safety car was not enough for the Mexican to challenge for top positions.
Thank you Miami 🇺🇸, always lovely 🙏 pic.twitter.com/J92alMS5P6
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) May 6, 2024
Expanding on his challenging race, Perez added: “Overall it was quite a tricky race, especially at the start when I went down the inside and ended up narrowly avoiding Max. There was no grip at all, which we hadn’t expected and I ended up losing a place to Piastri and damaged my tyres for the first stint. Basically, everything was running a little too hot and I was struggling to get through the people ahead as we lacked pace today.
“We were struggling on both mediums throughout the race, we came back a little bit towards the end but I couldn’t get into the rhythm until late in the race. We knew Mclaren were very, very strong this weekend, and we just didn’t have the pace of the Mclaren today at the front. We made some changes overnight, that in hindsight were not in the right direction, so we’ll need to debrief from this weekend to come back for Imola.”
Speaking of Red Bull’s second defeat in 2024, team boss Christian Horner said: "Firstly, congratulations to McLaren and Lando. They ran a great race and it’s a well deserved victory. Max was a little unfortunate to sustain floor damage when he hit the bollard around the 21st lap, he did well to maintain his position, but it was difficult for him to recover from there.
“Checo was also struggling with his tyres, he came back a little to the end but it was hard to find a rhythm. We were also a little unfortunate with the safety car today but that’s racing, we still scored the most points in the Drivers' Championship and in the Constructors' so can take that with us back to Europe and the fact that it’s still been a strong weekend."
