Max Verstappen is realistic that Red Bull’s limitations will hinder him in the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix Sprint.
Less than 24 hours after welcoming his baby girl Lily into the world with his partner Kelly Piquet, Verstappen was strapped into his Red Bull RB21, taking on Sprint Qualifying at the Miami International Autodrome.
Ever the dedicated racing professional, Verstappen wielded his RB21 expertly through Miami’s complex layout to qualify fourth, behind a sensational Andrea Kimi Antonelli and the McLaren duo.
Whilst not fully satisfied with fourth place, Verstappen accepted the result and the fine margin of 0.255s to pole position given the Red Bull weaknesses Miami exposes.
“I think what we did in Q3 was good, the tyres are holding on quite well, but unfortunately, already from FP1, we’re just struggling with a lot of understeer in the car and around here with all these low-speed corners, you just lose quite a bit of lap time,” the Dutchman said.
“I think you can see in the first sector we’re quite competitive because that’s where a few high-speed corners are.
“But as soon as you get to the low speed, we just lack quite a bit of grip.
“P4 is alright, I mean, it’s of course not where I want to be, but you also need to be realistic with the limitations that we have at the moment and I think it was still, quite close.”
Verstappen and Red Bull feeling the heat in Miami
Verstappen’s words tally with what we have seen from Red Bull so far this season, confident through high-speed corners and troubled with balance through lower speed.
Another issue raised ahead of the race is Red Bull’s difficulties with tyre management in hotter temperatures, a concern that senior advisor Helmut Marko pointed out in his Speedweek column.
Verstappen is also wary of the Florida climate and how that could hurt his chances, so he’s keeping expectations measured.
“Honestly, it’s always very difficult to say in a Sprint weekend because there’s no real proper data and long runs because, you don’t know what others are doing with fuel loads and stuff,” he continued.
“But just going off my own feeling, just balance-wise with the car, I think it will be tough with the heat, and like I said, we know our limitations, so we just need to try and make the best of it.”
Tsunoda aggravated with Red Bull run plan after SQ1 exit
On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Yuki Tsunoda dropped out of SQ1.
This marked the first time this season in either Red Bull or Racing Bulls colours that Tsunoda exited qualifying at the earliest opportunity, and the Japanese driver wasn’t happy with his team’s procedural efforts.
“Some intelligent car just came out from [the] pit and [I had to] abort my lap,” he said.
“A lot of cars cost my lap quite a lot.
“First lap… yeah, to be honest that’s it. In the last corner I had quite a lock-up, but to be honest the lap was pretty gone already from Turn 1 because of the car at pit exit.
“Just [wasn’t] able to do a proper lap at all, so that’s it.
“Communication is pretty poor as well and, just in general, I didn’t [do] a proper Qualifying.”
Set to start the Miami Sprint from 18th, Tsunoda isn’t holding out much hope of a strong result.
“It’s pretty far back,” he rued.
“I’ll try my best obviously, anything can happen at this track. I keep positive and I’ll do my best.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen and Kelly Piquet welcome newborn baby girl
