Verstappen on sprint quali: “really positive step for us”

Written by Bo Helmus

Verstappen secured his best starting position of the year | Credit: Formula One

Red Bull hasn’t had a great start to the 2026 Formula One season, to put it lightly. Max Verstappen was contending for the title last year, but this year, the RB22 is nowhere near a podium position. But after having qualified fifth for the sprint in Miami, things are getting better for the team from Milton Keynes. 

In the previous races, Verstappen finished sixth, retired and finished eighth. It is the worst start of a season for the four-time world champion in the last 10 years. This fifth place is the best starting position he has had all year. Rumours started spreading that if his results didn’t improve soon, he would quit F1. 

It is a difficult start of the season for the Dutchman | Credit: Formula One

Positive step

Will Miami be the turnaround point for Red Bull? After Sprint Qualifying, Verstappen had some mixed feelings: “The car is still not where I want it to be," he said. “But it is a really positive step for us." 

After a month off due to the cancelled races in the Middle-East, Red Bull seems to have returned with upgrades, and renewed faith. "It feels more together," the Dutchman said. "Of course, there's still things that we are working on but it has been a really positive step for us.”

Red Bull is struggling

More teams have struggled with the new regulations. Mercedes is the only team that have made a flying start of the season, so there’s still all to play for. But if you take a closer look at the constructors’ standings, Red Bull is really struggling. They are 30 points down on McLaren, who have had three ‘Did not start’s. 

There is still a long way to go until Red Bull can fight for podiums | Credit: Formula One

Verstappen acknowledges there’s still some work to do: "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.”

Improvements being made

Apart from the high speed, the car is improving: "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.”

Verstappen complained a lot about the driveability of the car in the earlier races. Fortunately for the 28-year-old, it looks like Red Bull fixed that problem. He says: "It feels a bit more normal [to drive], a bit more together. 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 take a bit more lap time out of it."

Let’s hope the four-time world champion can score some good results this weekend.