Red Bull have one points finisher and one failure to finish in Miami Grand Prix

Red Bull saw Max Verstappen collect points and Isack Hadjar crash out of an eventful Miami Grand Prix.

Verstappen would finish 5th after a chaotic race that saw him spin on the opening lap, briefly lead, get involved in a last lap skirmish and get a penalty that failed to change his position after Charles Leclerc was handed a bigger penalty.

Meanwhile, Hadjar would have a less successful afternoon after he crashed out in the early stages of the race when trying to fight back from a pit lane start.

The points achieved for his 5th place took Verstappen up to 7th in the Driver’s Championship after the first 4 rounds of the 2026 season.

The Dutchman has 26 points, leaving him 74 points behind early leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has now won 3 straight races. Verstappen is 17 points behind Oscar Piastri and 9 clear of Ollie Bearman.

Hadjar sits 13th in the championship, having picked up 4 points from the opening rounds.

Points in the Miami Grand Prix sprint and full distance race helped lift Red Bull up to 4th in the Constructor’s Championship. The Milton Keynes-based team now has 30 points, 64 behind 3rd place McLaren and 7 clear of 5th place Alpine.

Having seen Verstappen pick up points in the sprint, Red Bull’s hopes were raised when Verstappen took second place in qualifying. One issue did arise from their Saturday, however, as Hadjar was excluded from qualifying after his car failed a post-qualifying technical inspection and the Frenchman started from the pit lane.

When the race began in Miami, there was immediate chaos. Verstappen had made a quicker start than pole sitter Antonelli, but Leclerc had made an even brighter start to pass Verstappen at turn 1. Verstappen tried to fight back but an error saw him spin his Red Bull, with the Dutchman very fortunate to avoid a collision with other cars.

Verstappen had begun a fightback after falling down the order, with the Red Bull having a tight battle with the Williams and Alpine drivers.

But before that could play out, Hadjar crashed out in an event that was one of two things that lead to a summon for the safety car. The Frenchman had made a bright enough start from the pit lane and midway through lap 6, he made a move to pass the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad to take 15th place.

But a misjudgement saw him clip the curb through the tight chicane before the back street. This broke his suspension and before he could correct it, Hadjar’s car went straight into the barrier, putting him out on the spot.

The safety car would duly be deployed after both that and a further incident on the same lap that saw Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly collide, flipping the latter’s Alpine and seeing him crash out.

Verstappen opted to pit during this, making an early stop and going for a very long stint on hard tyres. This would see him go back down to 16th place in the order, though he would move on quickly and pass multiple cars. He would duly return to the top 10 by passing the two Haas cars on lap 14, 3 laps after the safety car period finished.

A tight fight saw Verstappen force his way past the Williams of Alex Albon, before further moves saw him get back into the top 6 by the time George Russell and Leclerc pitted.

On lap 29, Verstappen briefly found himself in the lead as others made pit stops, though this wouldn’t be long as he was quickly passed by Antonelli and then passed by McLaren’s Lando Norris.

It looked as though Verstappen would be on for a podium until his long tyre stint caught up with him and he was reeled in by cars who’d stopped later. Leclerc and Piastri would both get past him, with Russell then passing Verstappen on the penultimate lap.

This meant it looked as though Verstappen was set to finish 6th, but there was even more drama. Leclerc spun just after being passed by Piastri and limped to the finish in a broken car. Russell and Verstappen would both get ahead of Leclerc in the final corners, with the result seeing the latter take 5th.

After the race, analysis from the stewards gave Verstappen a 5 second time penalty, ruling that he crossed the pit exit line prematurely. But this would have no effect on his time due to Leclerc, who was handed a 20 second time penalty for cutting multiple corners while struggling with his broken car.

Red Bull will see if they can progress at the next round in Canada, with Montreal hosting the Canadian Grand Prix at the end of the month.