Max Verstappen unhappy with Red Bull after reliability issues continue at Miami Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has criticised his Red Bull team for the reliability issues that have plagued his season and have continued into the Miami Grand Prix.

The Dutchman has had a tough weekend in the United States so far, with his car repeatedly breaking down during Friday’s practice sessions, limiting his time on the brand-new Miami International Autodrome.

He recovered well on Saturday, qualifying third on the grid behind Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr., and as such he still has a great chance of winning Sunday night’s race.

He could have done better, however, with a mistake on his last lap costing him the chance of pipping his closest rivals to pole and the reigning world champion was not pleased at all post-qualifying.

He said: ‘That just sums up my weekend, it’s just been incredibly messy.

‘We just make it super difficult for ourselves. I have only done four or five laps yesterday and you cannot afford that on a new track, and a street circuit in general, because it is very critical to do laps and understand the car.

‘On a normal track, it is quite easy to get in a rhythm but on a street circuit it is a lot more difficult, and we basically failed on that side.

‘You start today still learning the track, trying to find a set-up because yesterday you had no clue what worked because we had not a lot of data to look at.’

While the Red Bull RB 18 car is very close to leaders Ferrari on pace, reliability woes have hampered their season.

Verstappen has failed to finish two of the opening four races in 2022, in Bahrain and Australia, with his car breaking down while he was in the podium places.

He did, however, win the other two rounds in Saudi Arabia and Imola, and as such he is still second in the standings, 27