Did Verstappen's fierce battle with both McLaren's cost him his own race? Horner weighs in

11:14, 05 May

byToby Nixon

In the opening stages of the Miami Grand Prix, Max Verstappen appeared to be a strong contender for victory. However, as the race progressed, he gradually lost ground and ultimately crossed the finish line almost forty seconds behind winner Oscar Piastri. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner noted that the RB21 simply couldn’t keep up with McLaren’s speed over the race distance.

Max Verstappen was not happy with a fourth-place finish. George Russell overtook the Dutchman under VSC, meaning that he lost a podium finish. However, the Dutchman still received compliments for his performance in Miami. “I think Max did an outstanding job and was able to get every ounce of performance today," team principal Christian Horner said to GPblog and other media.

Verstappen battles Oscar Piastri in Miami

Verstappen Delivered a 'Brave Performance'

The Brit saw that Verstappen fought a battle with McLaren that was unwinnable. “Arguably the under-performance today. But we knew going into this race it was going to be very, very hard to beat them. I was actually surprised that Max was able to hold them back for circa 14 laps or 13. I thought it was a very brave display."

But for Horner, that fierce battle also meant that Verstappen ultimately fell back much further in the race. “Arguably that maybe hurt our own race because you're fighting hard, your tyres are getting hot, but you're leading the Grand Prix, you've got to go for it and I thought he did an outstanding job to keep Oscar behind as long as he did and then Lando," Horner concluded.

The Red Bull team boss is hopeful that being this far off the McLaren's is only a one-off. Team Advisor Helmut Marko, however, wasn't so sure. The Austrian looked at the race with a much more negative outlook.