Despite struggling to come to grips with the RB21, Max Verstappen has so far rung the neck of his Red Bull to place the car into positions it doesn’t deserve. At last weekend’s Miami GP, the four-time champion did it once again by snatching away a sensational pole from Lando Norris’ MCL39.
However, going into the Grand Prix, even the Dutchman wasn’t immune to the massive pace deficit his team has to the McLarens. Verstappen tried his best to battle the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Norris but came up short and took the chequered flag in fourth position.
Auto Motor und Sport’s Michael Schmidt dove deep into the lap times and telemetry from the 57-lap race at the Miami International Autodrome to break down why the 27-year-old finished a whopping 40 seconds behind the leading McLaren duo.
“McLaren has one part, which they control better than any other team, and that is the tire management. There is not a single car that can keep the tires at the right temperature so well. They drove away as if Verstappen was in a Formula 2 car, with a difference of 1.3 seconds per lap,” he explained as quoted by F1Maximaal.nl. But is it just that McLaren is so good on its tires, or did Red Bull’s struggles further accentuate the MCL39? As a matter of fact, yes.
Going into the race weekend, BBC F1’s Andrew Benson had predicted tire management in the scorching heat of Miami to be the Achilles’ heel for the Milton Keynes-based team. And it came true as validated by Schmidt.
“In Miami, I suspect Red Bull are really going to struggle because tire wear in the heat is McLaren’s strongest point, and it’s going to be hot in Miami, it’s in the middle of the day,” he had said on the BBC: F1 Chequered Flag podcast.
The McLaren’s dominance at Miami pointed out again the MCL 39 perfect tyres management. Teams attention is focused on the sophisticated brakes drums managing to better control and reduce tyres wear. pic.twitter.com/Af9XTaPfQo
— Giorgio Piola_design (@pioladesign) May 5, 2025
Verstappen had maintained his lead into the first two corners but Piastri quickly dispatched Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and then set his sights on the Dutchman, eventually passing him for the lead with a convincing switch-a-rue move. His teammate, Norris, however, was on the receiving end of Verstappen’s aggression into the first corner and fell to sixth.
But even the #4 driver pulled off a solid recovery drive in the early phases of the race and passed the Dutchman—albeit with some difficulty. Once the McLarens were clear of the Dutchman, it was a simple romp to the chequered flag.
Verstappen struggled to keep the balance of his car right and was passed by George Russell after a well-timed Virtual Safety Car for the Mercedes driver allowed him to overcut the #1 driver. This meant that Verstappen settled into fourth place and could never really attack Russell for the final podium slot.
Having said that, the MCL39 has gremlins of its own. Schmidt highlighted that the stable platform of the car and its inherent aerodynamic characteristics that are helping them win races are actually pulling them back in terms of one-lap pace.
“No team has a car with so much anti-dive and anti-squat. That means the car moves less if you brake or accelerate’. This has some disadvantages in the qualification. The front axle feels a bit diapered because of this,” he added.
This could be the reason why Verstappen has been able to sneak away pole positions from under the noses of the McLaren drivers—by the smallest of margins—in three out of the last five races (Suzuka, Jeddah and Miami).
So, the Woking outfit have some work to do about their qualifying pace, as narrows tracks like Imola, Monaco, Hungary, and Singapore could make their life difficult while fighting for wins.
