Toto Wolff admits Red Bull’s ‘giant leap forward’ with Max Verstappen in Miami was a ‘big surprise’

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted his surprise at Red Bull’s ‘giant leap forward’ at the Miami Grand Prix that saw Max Verstappen competing among the frontrunners.

Off the back of a tough start to the 2026 F1 season following Max Verstappen’s late title charge last year, Red Bull turned up to the Miami Grand Prix with a swathe of upgrades that aimed at shedding some of the excess weight that the RB22 was carrying.

The majority of teams brought new parts to South Beach last weekend, but they didn’t have the intended effect for all of them.

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For example, 11 new upgrades were fitted to Ferrari’s SF-26 for the race weekend in Miami, but a P6 and P8 for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, respectively, rounded out a disappointing weekend for the Scuderia.

What’s more, Red Bull’s impressive pace magnified Ferrari’s inability to record a strong result. McLaren also brought some new upgrades, and seemingly leapfrogged the Prancing Horse, along with Red Bull, in the F1 pecking order.

• READ MORE: James Hinchcliffe fears Isack Hadjar ‘trend’ now Max Verstappen is ‘comfortable’ in Red Bull RB22

Toto Wolff admits his surprise at Red Bull’s ‘giant leap forward’ in Miami

During a recent interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Toto Wolff was asked about his expectations for the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix after seeing their frontrunning rivals close the gap slightly in Miami.

McLaren’s Lando Norris dominated the Sprint proceedings last weekend, and nearly came away with victory in the Grand Prix had it not been for the Mercedes pit-wall’s quick thinking to undercut the Briton with Kimi Antonelli.

Wolff asserted that he expected a step up from last year’s constructors’ world champions, but admitted that Red Bull’s progress caught him by surprise.

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“We’re only at the start of this new regulatory cycle, and the development curve is very steep, so we expected that McLaren, with a significant update package, could gain as much as half a second,” he told the Italian publication.

“I must say that Red Bull has been a big surprise because they’ve taken a giant leap forward, going from being more than a second off the pace to being right up there fighting with Verstappen.

“We’ll be bringing developments to Canada too, but I think it will be normal, over the course of this year, to see performance levels change from race to race.”

• READ MORE: McLaren will regret losing Oscar Piastri to Red Bull even if they can land Max Verstappen

Red Bull’s 2026 power unit is reportedly on par with Mercedes’ engine

While Red Bull started the season on the back foot with their chassis, the team’s debut F1 power unit has been a consistent performer in the early stages of the season.

Karun Chandhok previously outlined Red Bull Powertrains’ humble beginnings, highlighting how the power unit division began in a ‘porter cabin’ during his claim that the Red Bull-Ford DM01 is on par with Mercedes’ hybrid engine.

Former F1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer shares a similar sentiment, recently voicing his opinion that Red Bull’s engine has more potential than Mercedes’ counterpart.

As alluded to by Wolff, the development race will continue to ensue as the season heats up. If the engineers in Milton Keynes are able to make more steps forward with the chassis, then we could definitely see Verstappen on the top step of the podium this year.