Max Verstappen pinpoints key reason behind incredible Red Bull F1 turnaround

Max Verstappen has revealed a key factor in Red Bull’s incredible form turnaround at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

Having so far endured a massively challenging start to the 2026 season, Red Bull turned a corner in Miami with the introduction of a heavily-upgraded RB22, which Verstappen took to the front row of the grid in qualifying.

The four-time world champion secured his and Red Bull’s best qualifying result of the season with an eye-catching performance, ending up just two tenths off championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who made it a hat-trick of pole positions in his Mercedes.

Verstappen, whose previous best qualifying finish in 2026 was eighth in Japan, hailed Red Bull’s remarkable turnaround as “incredible” and explained that he was much more comfortable and confident in his improved RB22.

Previously, Verstappen was restricted by the limitations of the Red Bull and felt like “a passenger”.

Expanding on some of the gains Red Bull has made, Verstappen pointed to steering system changes as being a game-changer.

“Most of it is in the steering system, where something was clearly wrong before. They have finally been able to fix that, so now I can at least steer normally again,” Verstappen revealed in his Dutch media session.

“I already said from the very first lap in the Barcelona test that something was wrong with the steering, but apparently it was very difficult to find. Now it’s finally been fixed.

“It was not as simple as it seems. You think about the steering wheel, but a lot of things come together, also in terms of aerodynamics. In the end, the whole suspension is designed to be aerodynamically optimal as well, so there are always a lot of complicating factors involved.”

The 28-year-old Dutchman, who also finished fifth in the sprint race, added: "We were really not happy, of course, with what we were doing the previous races, but you can see everyone was pushing flat out to try and understand the problems and they have come with solutions. And that's just amazing to see. Amazing team effort.

"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 one without even touching parts.

“We're still not where we want to be in terms of understanding everything, but most of it. I can finally drive how I want to drive."