Horner praises Verstappen for "his staunch defence of his lead"

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was left to praise four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen after the Dutchman delivered a "staunch defence of his lead" in the opening stages of Sunday's Miami Grand Prix.

The reigning champion put in a brilliant effort in qualifying to secure pole position for the Miami Grand Prix. However, he had quickly indicated that he might be unable to fend off the McLarens on a track where thermal degradation usually plays a big role.

Verstappen was challenged by Lando Norris at the start, but he maintained the lead after a brutal fight through the opening two corners. However, he immediately found himself under pressure from Piastri, and while he held onto the lead for a few laps, he eventually out-braked himself and let the much quicker McLaren past.

Having lost the lead to Piastri, Verstappen had company again as Norris closed in on the Dutch driver. Although he defended hard against McLaren's British racer, Noris eventually got through. Verstappen then looked on for third, but got jumped by Mercedes driver George Russell as the Briton capitalized on the virtual safety car intervention which allowed him to shorten his time loss in the pit lane.

His team-mate Yuki Tsunoda started from P10 on the grid. The Japanese spent the first part of the race behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, but he picked up a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. However, he managed to put his foot down on the last few laps to pull a five-second gap to his former team-mate Isack Hadjar behind to make sure he held on to the last point.

"We gave it everything today but well done to McLaren, they were in a different league so P4 and a double points finish is as good as we could get from an often chaotic Miami GP.

"Max put up a staunch defence of his lead and position in the opening stint, but the VSC gave others the opportunity to capitalise on Max’s earlier stop and ultimately cost him a podium finish.

"P10 for Yuki who did well to hold onto his point in the end. The race showed that we still have a lot of work to do on the car to find that ultimate race pace.

"We’ll take our learnings back to Milton Keynes and come back with everything we have for our 400th race in Imola in a couple of weeks time."