Verstappen responds to Sainz's 'midfield' team radio dig at Miami GP
Photo: Race Pictures
Updated: 14:12, 04 May
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Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
Max Verstappen has reacted to Carlos Sainz's team radio dig during the Miami GP. The four-time world champion had dropped to the middle of the pack in Miami after an early spin at Turn 2 was followed up by an early visit to the pits - Verstappen aggressively charged his way back up the grid on fresher tyres, much to the dismay of Williams' Sainz.
On his way back to an eventual P5 finish, Verstappen threw his RB22 down the inside of Sainz at Turn 17 at Miami Gardens, a move immediately complained about on team radio. Sainz claimed: “He pushed me off. He thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he’s racing the midfield.”
When Sainz's comments were brought up to Verstappen during post-race media, the Red Bull driver was relatively tight-lipped, simply responding: "I don't know, it is a bit of a jungle in the midfield, so I don't know what to say."
Instead, Verstappen chose to focus on his own performance, arguing that Red Bull are "getting there" after bringing a series of upgrades to Miami. The 28-year-old, perhaps F1's most outspoken critic on the new regulations, also had his say on the new rule tweaks introduced at the weekend in Miami, adding "it's still not how I would like to see it."
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Sainz doubles down on 'borderline' Verstappen criticism at Miami GP
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
While Verstappen was able to brush aside the incident with his former Toro Rosso teammate, Sainz did not let it go in the post-media sessions, despite his P9 finish as part of Williams' double points score in Miami.
Sainz said: "Yeah, no disrespect, but what we did into Turn 17 is almost like a launch, knowing that because we're in the midfield, we're not going to fight him and we're going to have to let him by at some point. But, what he did there was borderline.
When asked whether it was due to the frustration of having to race midfield cars, Sainz responded: "No, probably a bit of frustration of the spin and trying to get back to the front as much as possible. But yes, I mean, it's racing. I’m not going to criticise too much. It's just at that point it felt like we were going to crash and he took me off the track. I lost three positions."
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