Verstappen jokes 360 was intentional after hectic Miami GP

Max Verstappen joked “if F1 doesn’t work out, I can always go rallying” after spinning at the start of the Miami Grand Prix before recovering to fifth place.

The Red Bull driver took the lead from Kimi Antonelli into Turn 1 off the line but then locked up and ran slightly wide, opening the door for Charles Leclerc to try and overtake him on the exit. Accelerating through Turn 2, Verstappen started to slide and did a complete spin in the middle of the track to drop to 10th on the road, but avoided damage and after an early pit stop managed to climb back into fifth place.

“Quite hectic!” Verstappen said. “I lost the rear in Turn 2, and of course I tried to minimize the time loss by doing a 360. I thought I was going to crash but then I thought what about doing a 360? So if F1 doesn't work out, I can always go rallying!

“After that, I think the pace was not too bad on the medium, but as soon as I swapped to the hard compound, it was just a lot more difficult. I think now, after the race, it's easy to say, of course, but I think that thing was just a bit too long.

“At least I can race a bit more with those guys ahead. Unfortunately, just that hard compound didn't seem to work that well for us.”

An intense battle with George Russell late in the race also led to Verstappen being involved in an incident where the pair made light contact, but the Dutchman had no complaints about the touch.

“I think out of Turn 1, he clipped my rear tire, so then I think he picked up a bit of front wing damage. Luckily, I didn't have a puncture, but yeah, that can happen.

“I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. It's nothing to do with the history between us.”

Despite a much-improved performance from Red Bull, Verstappen says his reservations with the 2026 cars remain, even though tweaks to the rules were introduced in Miami.

“My car drives a bit better, but what I said before about the regulations, it's still the same … I mean, you still need to go a bit slower in places to go faster, so it's still not how I would like to see it.

“It's still punishing, the faster you go through corners, the slower you go on the next straight. That's not what it should be about. At least my car is working a bit nicer, so it's a bit less stressful to drive.”