One man show
Max Verstappen was voted driver of the day at the Miami GP where he put on a great show from the first to the last meter. The Red Bull driver tried to take the lead at the start, but ended up spinning with a perfect 360° that still kept him in the middle of the pack exiting Turn 3 (he apologized via radio to the team).
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Then the Milton Keynes team’s pit wall decided to take advantage of the Safety Car to immediately switch to hard tires and with those, thanks to staggered pit stops, Verstappen even rose to the lead of the race only to progressively have to give up positions to rivals who had much fresher tires. The fifth place finish is still satisfactory for Verstappen who finally experienced a weekend as a protagonist also in this 2026.
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“Would I have won without the spin? No, I didn’t lose 40 seconds on that mistake – said Verstappen referring to the gap accumulated by the winner Antonelli – maybe I could have made it to the podium, I believe third place with a clean race would have been within reach. The contact with Russell? Normal things that happen in a race.”
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