The Miami Grand Prix delivered a tale of two very different fortunes for Red Bull Racing. While Max Verstappen managed to climb back into the fight for podium places, his teammate Isack Hadjar endured a weekend that highlighted the widening gap between the pair. After a difficult start to the 2024 season, Red Bull finally began to reap the benefits of a series of upgrades introduced during the five‑week hiatus preceding the Florida round. In the opening three events – Australia, China and Japan – Verstappen had struggled to break into the top eight on the grid and his best race result was a modest sixth place.
The car simply could not match the raw pace of the leading Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren machines. Miami, however, told a different story. Verstappen qualified fifth for the sprint race and then produced a stunning performance in the full‑length qualifying session on Saturday, securing a second‑place start. The Dutch driver’s momentum was halted on race day when a spin at the start forced him to drop to the midfield, ultimately finishing fifth.
The incident denied spectators a clear view of how the upgraded RB22 would perform over a full Grand Prix distance, but the improvement was unmistakable. Verstappen’s resurgence came at a time when he had publicly voiced frustration with the new technical regulations, even hinting that he might contemplate leaving Formula 1 at the end of the season. He later clarified that his doubts stemmed from the sport’s rule changes rather than Red Bull’s competitiveness, but his comments after Saturday’s qualifying session carried an unmistakable note of optimism. "I’m already very happy with where we are," Verstappen said.
"From here there’s light at the end of the tunnel – we can keep pushing and try to close the gap even further." When pressed for details about the progress, the champion explained that the team had been working flat‑out over the past weeks to deliver upgrades that finally made the car feel more predictable and controllable. "I never felt comfortable with the layout of the car," he admitted. "In the last few weeks the team has been pushing flat out to bring upgrades, and now I feel a lot more at ease.
It really pays off. I feel more in control again and can push a bit more – the upgrades are working." In a later interview, Verstappen expanded on the technical challenges he had faced earlier in the season. He described the car as a "total passenger" that would under‑steer in one session, snap‑steer in another, and behave inconsistently without any obvious changes to the hardware.
Over the recent weeks, engineers have managed to bring the various subsystems into better harmony, allowing him to translate his steering inputs into the desired on‑track behavior. "Honestly, it’s everything, because before nothing really worked. I felt like a total passenger in the car.
It could understeer, it could snap on me, it could feel different from one session to the other without even touching parts. We understood a lot of stuff. I think we’re still not where we want to be in terms of understanding everything, but most of it. And that showed that here the car just feels a lot more together.
I can finally drive how I want to drive with just my steering inputs, and that helps a lot." He also highlighted the learning curve associated with the new hybrid power unit. "Energy management is something everyone is learning every single weekend. We’re completely new manufacturers, so our learning curve is probably a little bit steeper, but the team is doing a really good job and it’s getting better and better each time," Verstappen added. While Verstappen continues to cement his reputation as the sport’s premier driver, his dominance has also earned him the label of "team‑mate killer." Since Daniel Ricciardo’s departure in 2018 – a move many attributed to Red Bull’s focus on the young Dutchman – Verstappen has out‑performed five subsequent teammates: Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Pérez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda.
His ability to extract performance from the car, often through extreme setup choices, has left his partners looking comparatively modest. Hadjar’s start to his Red Bull tenure had been promising. He qualified third in the opening Australian Grand Prix and generally lingered near Verstappen’s pace in the first three rounds.
However, the upgrades that lifted Verstappen into contention in Miami also exposed a performance gap between the two drivers. In the final sprint‑qualifying segment, Verstappen was almost a full second faster than Hadjar, and the margin remained significant in the full‑qualifying session, where the Dutchman secured second while Hadjar could only manage ninth.
Compounding the situation, Hadjar was hit with a technical infringement that relegated him to the back of the grid for the race. A further misstep saw him clip a barrier early on, breaking his front suspension and sending him into a second wall shortly thereafter. In the post‑race interview with Sky Sports F1, the 21‑year‑old expressed his frustration: "I was too eager and too excited about making those moves and just ruined myself. It was easy to overtake.
I should have been more cautious. There was no point trying to flirt with the limit in this corner, so I’m really pissed off.
It’s the first time I’ve really struggled with my overall pace. This is new, and I really need to dig deep because I don’t want another weekend like this." Despite the disappointment, there are reasons for optimism.
Team principal Laurent Mekies explained that Hadjar suffered a straight‑line power deficit for most of the weekend, which hampered his overall performance. "We had a tough weekend. To be honest, we know we haven’t done everything perfectly on our side. You may find out for yourselves that we have had a straight‑line performance deficit on his behalf for most of the weekend.
This has not helped the overall performance." Mekies added that once Hadjar found his rhythm, he showed flashes of speed and could have been strong in the race had the circumstances been different. "I don’t think we are worried. We certainly didn’t have a clean weekend. We didn’t help him either by sending him from the back of the grid after our mistake with the legality of the car.
So, no, not worried. Not a clean weekend, but there is every indication that he will be at the right speed again in Montreal." Hadjar’s resilience is already evident. After a crash on the way to the grid in his debut race in Australia left him in tears, he recovered to deliver a solid rookie season with Racing Bulls, earning a promotion to Red Bull’s junior programme.
Former world champion and Sky Sports pundit Jenson Button echoed this confidence, noting that Hadjar had bounced back from early setbacks and "absolutely annihilated his teammate for most of the season." Button concluded, "It’s one race. Hopefully he can put this behind him and will come out quick in Canada." The next chapter of the 2024 Formula 1 season will unfold in Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, featuring another sprint weekend. Fans can watch the action live on Sky Sports F1 from May 22‑24, with streaming options available through NOW without a long‑term contract.