Peter Windsor shares where Max Verstappen was ‘unbelievably slow’ during Miami Grand Prix

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The word ‘slow’ is very rarely associated with Max Verstappen, but during the Miami Grand Prix, that’s exactly how Peter Windsor described the three-time world champion in one section of the circuit.

For the first time this season, Max Verstappen finished a race and didn’t immediately make his way onto the top step of the podium.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Peter Windsor explained what was going wrong for the Dutch Red Bull driver during the Miami Grand Prix.

Peter Windsor explains where Max Verstappen was ‘unbelievably slow’ in Miami

There were signs throughout the weekend that Max Verstappen wasn’t completely happy with his car’s set-up in Miami.

Teams only have one practice session to prepare their cars during Sprint Race weekends.

Red Bull are normally experts in his department, but Verstappen wasn’t completely happy with the car despite taking pole position for Saturday’s race.

He lined alongside Charles Leclerc who showed why he’s such a good qualifier after a mistake in practice meant he did virtually no running.

Verstappen went on to win the Sprint Race and take pole position for the main Grand Prix but never looked completely comfortable.

Lando Norris took full advantage on Sunday, winning his first Formula 1 race and pulling away from Verstappen after the safety car.

Peter Windsor – who has decades of experience in the sport – explained where Verstappen was ‘unbelievably slow’ in Miami and losing out to the Brit during the race.

It’s an issue that Red Bull will have to assess and diagnose quickly as they will hope to avoid a repeat at the next race in Imola.

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Assessing the 26-year-old performance, Windsor said: “I was going on and on and on about how good Max [Verstappen] was through those Esses in Sector 1 and he still looked pretty good then in the race I thought.

“Where Max was unbelievably slow was the next left-hander, that long left-hander where you brake into it with the increasing radius and then the long straight and he was so unbelievably slow there.

“He got on the radio and said, ‘I can’t do anything with the front end’, so again, I don’t know whether there was floor damage but as a result of being so slow through that left-hander, turn seven I think it is, then that is why he was unbelievably slow in a straight line.

“He was consistently seven or eight kilometres per hour slower than Sergio Perez on the straight today.

“And in Sector 1, sometimes Lando [Norris] was pulling out half a second alone.

“Everywhere else, change of direction and the normal areas, the high-speed braking, things like that, Max was really good, but he was just hopeless through that long left-hander, I can’t believe I’m saying that.”

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The damage to Max Verstappen’s car may explain why he was so slow through turn seven in Miami and the difference between his car’s speed and Sergio Perez’s.

While Verstappen initially stated after the race that there was ‘no damage’ to his car after hitting the bollard at turn 14, Christian Horner suggested otherwise.

Speaking after the race via the Formula 1 website, he said: “He hit the bollard around Lap 20, and that’s actually done quite a lot of damage to the underside of the car, so we’ll have to look at exactly what the effect of that has been.”

While that may have impacted Verstappen’s race, McLaren appear to have taken a big stride forward with their latest upgrade.

Lando Norris is now level on points with Carlos Sainz in the Drivers’ Championship.

If their latest upgrade is anything like the one they produced in Austria last year, then Red Bull and Ferrari are about to have some serious company at the front of the grid.