Racing
© Adrian Hernandez
Max Verstappen said Lewis Hamilton “wasted our time” in the Miami Grand Prix Sprint after Verstappen gave back a place for an off-track overtake, only for Hamilton not to retake it immediately before Verstappen recovered to fifth after Kimi Antonelli’s penalty.
The key moment came in the 19-lap Sprint when Verstappen and Hamilton were fighting over sixth. Verstappen forced his way ahead at Turn 11 but ran outside the track limits in the process, prompting Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to tell him over the radio: “It’s best you give the position back to Hamilton.” Verstappen slowed approaching Turn 17 to comply, but said Hamilton stayed behind him too long and cost them both time.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the Sprint, Verstappen said: “I had to let him by, but he doesn’t come by. So, we lose four seconds because he just stays behind me. That’s where we wasted our time. I don’t know what else I could have done there, so that’s a bit of a shame.”
Verstappen still got back ahead of Hamilton on the next lap and finished sixth on the road. He was then promoted to fifth when Antonelli was handed a five-second penalty for track-limits infringements, giving the Red Bull driver his best result of the season so far.
The irritation over the Hamilton exchange did not hide a more encouraging verdict on Red Bull’s progress. Verstappen said the Sprint had been “a lot more positive” than the opening rounds because he was at least back racing the cars Red Bull expects to fight.
“I think overall it was a lot more positive,” Verstappen said. “We’re finally battling a bit more with the cars that we want to battle, even considering all the issues that I had.”
Those issues started immediately. Verstappen said the launch problem was similar to the one he suffered in China, and that by the end of the first lap he had no battery deployment out of the final corner, which left him vulnerable. Once he found clean air, though, he felt the pace was good enough to recover.
“After that, once I was in clean air a bit, the pace was okay,” he said. “There are still a few problems with the car that I want to sort out and we’ll go from there.” He added that the RB22 was still bouncing in low-speed corners, a trait that was costing him grip and leaving the car short of where he wants it to be.
Hamilton, Ferrari driver, did not address the clash directly afterward and instead pointed to technical problems on his side after finishing seventh. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he said: “I’m hoping that we can change a lot.”
Hamilton said Ferrari had lost “three tenths just because the software wasn’t working properly” and that the issue appeared to carry over from Sprint Qualifying into the race, hurting deployment on the straights. He also said the car itself needed a reset before the next session.
“The set-up is in the wrong place so definitely will make some big changes going into Qualifying,” Hamilton said.
For Verstappen, that left Miami’s Sprint with two clear takeaways: a battle with Hamilton that he believed cost him four seconds for no reason, and a Red Bull that still has problems but is at least close enough again to fight nearer the front.