Red Bull has ‘halved the gap’ but RB22 ‘still not where’ Verstappen wants it to be

Max Verstappen believes Red Bull has “almost halved the gap” to its rivals after a major upgrade package debuted in Miami.

Verstappen recorded his best grid position of the F1 2026 season in Miami’s Sprint qualifying, putting his RB22 up into fifth place, outqualifying the Mercedes of George Russell.

Max Verstappen upbeat after Red Bull Miami upgrade gains

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Having been almost a second down on the pole-sitter in the preceding three qualifying sessions, Verstappen was 0.592s slower than Lando Norris on Friday.

Red Bull’s gains came on the back of a heavily revised RB22 hitting the track in Friday’s extended practice, where Verstappen was second quickest.

Red Bull brought seven new parts to the Miami Autodrome, six of which are focused on performance.

Introducing a ‘Macarena’ wing, similar to that designed by Ferrari, Red Bull also revised the sidepod inlets, engine cover, mirror support geometries, and rear corner. The team also debuted a new floor and front wing.

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“It feels more together,” said Verstappen. “Of course, there’s still things that we are working on, but it has been a really positive step for us.

“Last few races, we were like over a second behind. I would say we have almost halved that gap now. So that’s positive.

“We’re still very weak in the first sector, which is mainly high speed so we know we need to work on that.

“The rest seemed a bit more together, so a bit happier with that, at least it seems like we have cleared a little bit the midfield.”

Asked if the car felt better driving, he replied: “It feels a bit more normal, a bit more together.

“It’s still not where I want it to be, obviously, but it’s at least allowing me to trust it a bit more and I can basically take a bit more time out of it.”

Verstappen is ninth in the Drivers’ Championship with 12 points, 60 down on championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The Dutch racer’s team-mate Isack Hadjar is P12 with four points.

Hadjar also qualified inside the top ten in Miami, but he was almost a second down on Verstappen in ninth place.

He was perplexed by his lack of pace compared to Verstappen.

“It was smooth at least,” he said. “Got through into SQ3 which is a start but then to be a second off, I don’t know why.

“I’ve never been more than a tenth off so far this year when it mattered, I don’t know what’s going on.”

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