Verstappen: 2026 car issues persist despite tweaks for Miami

The Dutchman had an eventful race in Florida. After spinning on the opening lap and switching to an alternative strategy, Verstappen spent much of the race fighting through the field. He has previously been critical of the current regulations, and despite the changes introduced in Miami, he believes many of the issues still persist. "I mean my car drives a bit better, but what I said before about the regulations is still the same," he told GPblog, among others, on Sunday.

About qualifying, the four-time world champion also added: "You still need to go a bit slower in places to go faster. It's still not how I would like to see it. It's still punishing you. The faster you go through corners, you go slower on the next straight. That's not what it should be about. At least my car is working a bit nicer, so it's a bit less stressful to drive."

The only positive Verstappen sees is a step forward in his Red Bull Racing car after the team introduced various updates this weekend."It's better. I think we were more competitive, unfortunately on the hard compound it was just not as good. We're getting there, we're not the same yet," he said addressing McLaren team boss Andrea Stella's comment about the four frontrunner teams being on around the same level of performance.