Red Bull struggle for race pace at the Miami Grand Prix

Max Verstappen avoided penalties after he was once again involved in a first corner incident in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.

The Dutchman, who celebrated the birth of his first daughter just prior to the race weekend, fought with McLaren’s Lando Norris as the pair raced for the lead on the first lap, with the Red Bull man having a big twitch into Turn 2, forcing the Brit off track.

Verstappen then needed to fend off championship leader Oscar Piastri, but dropped to second before Norris forced his way past. A poorly timed safety car period dropped the Red Bull behind George Russell’s Mercedes, but he was unable to pass and had to settle for fourth spot.

He said: “I tried to put up a fight, but in the end it was impossible to keep them behind. We got a bit unlucky with the VSC, but of course that is part of racing and overall the pace wasn’t really there.

“The race was unfortunately quite difficult for us in general and we ultimately lacked pace and struggled with the breaks. Every time that I tried to get close or push a bit more, my tyres would overheat a lot. It was really down to tyre management today and the track had quite high degradation, which is not our strong suit at the moment.”

Yuki Tsunoda in the sister Red Bull picked up a single point for tenth spot, where he started the race, but was hit with a time penalty for speeding in the pitlane when he came in for his tyre stop.

“It was unnecessary for me to be in that position with the time penalty and it made things a lot more difficult in the race for me,” he said. “I am happy I was able to score points but again, not happy with the pace I had. We struggled overall with race pace, it wasn’t just me and it is something we have to look at.

“I gave the maximum that I can for now, it is tough to get the car in the place we want, but we will work towards it and make up for it in the future. I am feeling more confident in the car as the weeks go by and we will unlock it.”