Verstappen labels Miami Grand Prix ‘a struggle’ after slipping back to P4 as he reflects on gap to McLaren

Max Verstappen admitted that his Miami Grand Prix was “a bit of a struggle” after slipping backwards from pole position to a final result of P4, with the Red Bull man conceding that he lacked paced in comparison to his rivals on a dominant day for McLaren.

Having initially held the lead off the line, Verstappen faced a challenge from Lando Norris in Lap 1 before the Briton went wide, allowing Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri through in the process.

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After Piastri had overtaken Antonelli, the Australian then chased down Verstappen and eventually found a way past into P1, with a resurgent Norris soon following through to drop the World Champion down to third.

A Virtual Safety Car period later in the race saw George Russell leapfrog Verstappen for third via a well-timed pit stop for the Mercedes driver and, while Verstappen tried to close in during the latter stages of the race, the Dutchman had to settle for fourth.

Asked after the race if he could take any solace from doing some damage limitation – given the commanding pace displayed by the McLaren cars – Verstappen responded: “Yeah, I mean I had nothing to lose so I just tried to have a bit of fun out there as well at the same time.

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from the Miami GP as Piastri wins in dominant McLaren 1-2

“I said yesterday that I would try to do my very best and I think we did that today, but unfortunately [we] just didn’t have the pace.

“We were overheating a lot on the tyres, so it was just quite a bit of a struggle out there, and then of course we got a bit unlucky with the VSC as well, but that’s racing as well.”

Pushed on whether he was at all surprised by the significant gap to McLaren – with Piastri being a whopping 39 seconds up the road from Verstappen at the finish line – Verstappen suggested that the advantage can ebb and flow depending on the circuit.

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“It has been already their strength for a while, so sometimes on a track where the deg is a bit lower of course you might not see it as much, but on a track like this with thermal degradation it’s of course bigger,” the 27-year-old explained.