The Dutchman endured a dramatic opening lap, spinning after an error that dropped him down the order and forced a change in approach.
An early Safety Car period prompted Red Bull to switch to an alternate strategy, with Verstappen committing to an extended stint that saw him nurse his tyres for 51 laps to the flag.
That approach, while effective in damage limitation, complicates any direct comparison with rivals’ race pace.
Earlier in the weekend, Verstappen had delivered his strongest Qualifying performance of the season, securing a front-row start and briefly threatening to take the lead in the opening exchanges before his setback.
Team Principal Laurent Mekies nonetheless struck a positive tone, describing the Miami weekend as “a definite step forward” following developments introduced since Suzuka. However, he conceded that outright pace remains insufficient to challenge for victories.
Red Bull’s evaluation was further hindered by limited data from Isack Hadjar, who suffered front suspension damage in a crash that curtailed his running.
“There is a definitive step forward,” explained Mekies following the race. “We left Japan 1.2 seconds away from pole, China 1.0 seconds away from pole.
“Competition was not going to wait for us with their updates. Everybody has updated the car, but certainly we knew that on top of the development race, we had to solve some of our issues and we knew there was lap time in it.
“So, to see us this weekend qualifying six tenths away from pole on Friday and less than two tenths away from pole on Saturday is a big indication of the size of the progress.”
“I think overall, big picture, [the] race pace was strong, confirming the good signs shown in Quali,” added Mekies.
“[It was] not strong enough for P1 and P2, but perhaps able to put us in a fight between P3, P4 and P5.
“So, again, something that we had not shown so far this season and it’s credit to everyone back at Milton Keynes for such an important step forward.
“Don’t get me wrong, we have not cracked everything we wanted to, so us against us, there is more we want to extract out of our package, and then we are conscious that development race will be on and competition will bring stuff [to the] next race.”
