Red Bull

Red Bull remain "hit and miss" with issues - Verstappen

Both Red Bulls suffered issues in Miami

Ewan Gale

Wednesday 11 May 2022 08:00

Max Verstappen has conceded Red Bull is still "hit and miss" with its reliability record after overcoming more problems to win the Miami Grand Prix.

The reigning F1 world champion missed almost all of Friday's practice running at the new Miami International Autodrome, meaning he went into the race blind in terms of long-run data and start procedures.

But ultimately this wasn't an issue as Verstappen overtook Carlos Sainz at the start and fared better on medium tyres than the lead Ferrari and title rival Charles Leclerc to claim his third win of the year.

Article continues under video

Team-mate Sergio Perez was almost forced into retirement with a power unit issue of his own, adding further concern to whether Red Bull was on top of its gremlins.

But with the reliability issues following two retirements in the first four races, Verstappen warned the team must get on top of its problems.

"I mean, of course, now my side, I had a lot of issues on Friday, which compromises your weekend, and especially [qualifying]," explained Verstappen.

"Of course, [in the race] everything went well with the start but it also could have been the other way around and then you of course can say like, well, fair enough, because if you missed almost whole Friday, what can you do about it?

"So we just have to nail down a really positive weekend without issues. I think of course, Imola, we had that, but it's still a bit of a hit and miss too much.

"So we just have to make sure that we are more reliable and more on top of things.

"But as you can see the car is quick. I'm very happy about that, I mean, if you would be slow and reliable, that's probably also not a good thing."

Miami GP "incredibly well organised" - Verstappen

The inaugural running of the Miami Grand Prix took place after a week-long build-up with the spectacle at the forefront of attention.

This didn't stop when the racing finished, with Verstappen and the two Ferrari drivers wearing NFL-style helmets onto the podium after a police escort through Hard Rock Stadium's internal road network.

Addressing the event as a whole, Verstappen said: "I think it was an incredible atmosphere. I mean, it was really incredibly well organised.

"Really nice to see that. It’s not easy to put an event on like this. But yeah, they did an amazing job, and I had a lot of fun, driving around. I think track-wise, we can improve a few areas.

"But I have to say in the race, I do think Sector 1 was quite fun. I do think sector 2 can be maybe a bit… would have been nice if it could have been a bit faster and flowing for an F1 car like we have right now.

"You know: super long, heavy, wide. The 14-15 chicane is a bit of a tricky combination."