How Max Verstappen’s aggressive racing cost him positions in Miami

A rare opening-lap error from Max Verstappen turned a potential victory charge into a damage-limitation drive.

Whether Max could have challenged for the podium with a different strategy, or if the lap 1 mistake was simply too costly, is what we aim to uncover through telemetry data.

Did Max Verstappen make a strategic era in Miami?

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Red Bull, like most other teams, arrived in the United States with an extensive list of upgrades. However, the changes Red Bull made are arguably the most significant in terms of appearance.

The British-based team has completely altered the geometry and philosophy of their sidepods. Furthermore, major changes are visible on the rear wing as well as other aerodynamic components.

All of this has made Red Bull competitive on track once again. Verstappen fully capitalised on the weaker showing from the McLaren drivers in qualifying, placing himself in second on the grid for Sunday’s race. With Antonelli often prone to poor starts, this was an ideal chance for the Dutchman to record his first victory of the 2026 season.

However, this story was short-lived – as early as the second corner of the track, during wheel-to-wheel racing with Leclerc, Verstappen lost control of his car and spun.

Through skill or perhaps sheer luck, Max continued the race very quickly, having lost about eight seconds and several positions. Given where and when Max spun, he was extremely fortunate not to hit any of the drivers around him.

The Safety Car was deployed a few laps later with Verstappen running P8. His team decided to seize the opportunity for a ‘cheap’ pit stop while everyone else stayed on track. Max returned to the track in 16th place, and began his climb back to the top. Aided by fresh tyres, Max managed to go from P16 to P3 in just 16 laps.

From that point (Lap 28), Verstappen stabilised his pace and tried to extend the tyre life as much as possible. It was clear that he had to finish the race on these tyres, as another stop would have cost him too much time relative to the others.

Once the rest of the front-runners completed their pit stops, Max held onto P3, and it was clear that his main rivals would be Leclerc, Piastri, and Russell. All three were on fresher tyres and were rapidly closing in on the Dutchman.

On Lap 47, Leclerc entered the overtake zone and, despite a brilliant battle that was very entertaining to watch, Verstappen lost the position – and also a lot of time compared to the drivers behind, which simultaneously made Piastri’s overtaking task easier.

From this point on, it seemed as though the tyres on the Red Bull car suddenly lost performance, which is entirely normal given their high lap count.

At the very end of the race, Max also lost his position to Russell. If we look at how much time he lost racing Leclerc and Piastri, we could conclude that this loss of position might have been prevented had Max not defended so aggressively and instead focused on maintaining his own pace. However, that is Max, and we will rarely see him give up a position to other drivers so easily.

What we can ultimately conclude is that Red Bull’s risky strategy was a good decision and that, at the moment it was made, it made perfect sense. Max was in P3 on Lap 28, exactly when heavier rain was forecast for the track.

Had the rain actually arrived, the Red Bull driver would have been in an excellent position. One should also consider that after a spin like that, tyres definitely lose some of their performance.

On the other hand, through this strategy, Max gained a very good opportunity to defend a position ahead of Russell – an opportunity he likely wouldn’t have had if he had stayed in P8 after the Safety Car.

In the end, following Leclerc’s issues on the final lap of the race, Max finished in P5, successfully picking up good points considering his incident at the start of the race. What is even more important is that Red Bull showed a significant step forward, letting us know that they will certainly be involved in the fight for victories throughout the remainder of the season.

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