The Miami Grand Prix produced contrasting fortunes for Red Bull’s drivers as Max Verstappen returned to contention at the front of the field while Isack Hadjar lost touch with the Dutchman.

Red Bull had struggled across the first three rounds of the season in March but upgrades developed over the five-week gap before Miami enabled Verstappen to deliver a far more competitive showing.

The four-time world champion failed to qualify higher than eighth in Australia, China and Japan, and had a best race finish of sixth, having been unable to match the pace of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.

However, in Miami, Verstappen qualified for and finished fifth in the Sprint, before taking a highly impressive second in full qualifying later on Saturday. The Dutchman had to settle for fifth on Sunday as a spin at the start left him having to fight back from the midfield, and also denied onlookers a true read on his race pace in the updated RB22.

The improved display came against a backdrop of frustrated Verstappen having said in China and Japan that he was considering leaving F1 at the end of the season.

While Verstappen has insisted his doubts over remaining in F1 are purely a result of his distaste for the sport’s new set of regulations rather than Red Bull’s performance, his comments after Saturday’s qualifying breakthrough felt poignant.

“I’m already very happy with where we are,” Verstappen said. “From here there’s light at the end of the tunnel, that we can just push on and try to close the gap further.”

Why was Verstappen so much quicker?

Verstappen then explained the elements he believed had enabled him to close the gap on Red Bull’s usual rivals.

“I never felt comfortable with the layout of the car,” Verstappen said. “And I think over those last few weeks the team has been pushing flat out to try and bring upgrades to the car and making me feel more comfortable with a lot of things in the car, and it really pays off.

“I feel more in control of the car again and then I can push a bit more, then the upgrades are working.”

Pushed in a later interview for more specific details, Verstappen added: “Honestly, it’s everything, because before nothing really worked. I felt like a total passenger in the car. It could understeer, it could snap on me, it could feel different from one session to the other one without even touching parts.

“We understood a lot of stuff. I think we’re still not where we want to be in terms of understanding everything, but most of it. And that showed that here the car just feels a lot more together.

“I can finally drive how I want to drive also with just my steering inputs, and that helps a lot.

“And then I think also with the energy management, I think everyone is learning every single weekend. So are we, of course. We are completely new manufacturers, so I think our learning curve is probably a little bit more steep. But yes, they’re doing a really good job and it’s just getting, let’s say, better and better every time.”

Why was Miami ominous for Hadjar?

During his ascent to becoming recognised as Formula 1’s best current driver, Verstappen has developed a reputation for being the sport’s ultimate ‘team-mate killer’.

Since Verstappen’s first Red Bull team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, left the team in 2018 having felt slighted that the Milton Keynes squad were prioritising the young Dutchman, he has seen off five more drivers.

Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon were swiftly drafted in and out, Sergio Perez lasted four years before Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda both struggled terribly last season.

The extreme setups from which Verstappen is able to extract remarkable performance from F1 cars has left each of those five talented drivers looking silly at times.

Hadjar made a respectable start to life as Verstappen’s team-mate in the first three rounds. He impressively qualified third at the opening race in Australia and after that had managed to stay in a similar ballpark to the four-time world champion.

However, with the car developed to a place where Verstappen was able to challenge the front-runners in Miami, a gap between the pair emerged.

Verstappen was almost a full second faster than Hadjar in the final part of Sprint qualifying, and the gap was only marginally smaller in full qualifying 24 hours later as they finished second and ninth, respectively.

Hadjar’s task was then stiffened as a technical infringement on his car saw him demoted to the back of the grid, but he compounded a poor weekend by clipping a barrier in the early stages of the race, which broke his front suspension and sent him into another barrier moments later.

Hadjar told Sky Sports F1: “I was too eager and too excited about making those moves and just ruined myself. It was easy to overtake. I should have been more cautious.

“There was no point trying to flirt with the limit in this corner, so I’m really p****d off.

“It’s the first time I’ve really struggled with my overall pace. This is new. And I really need to dig deep because I don’t want another weekend like this.”

Red Bull not worried by ‘tough weekend’ for Hadjar

Despite the challenging nature of Hadjar’s Miami experience, there are plenty of reasons for him and Red Bull to be optimistic that he can deliver a positive response to the setback.

For one, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies explained on Sunday evening that Hadjar had been impacted by a power issue on straights.

Mekies said: “We had a tough weekend. To be honest, we know we haven’t done everything perfectly on our side, without giving away too many secrets, you may find out for yourselves that we have had a straight-line performance deficit on his behalf for most of the weekend. This has not helped the overall performance.

“I think in terms of driving and rhythms, he slowly got into the right rhythm, I think he would have been strong in the race, and he was strong for the little bit he could have shown.

“Hence, I don’t think we are worried. We certainly didn’t have a clean weekend. We didn’t help him either by sending him from the back of the grid after our mistake with the legality of the car. So, no, not worried. Not a clean weekend, but there is every indication that he will be at the right speed again in Montreal.”

The other thing in Hadjar’s favour is that he has already proven in his short F1 career that he is highly resilient.

After being left in tears following a crash on the way to the grid before his debut in Australia last year, Hadjar responded with a superb rookie campaign for Racing Bulls to earn himself a promotion from Red Bull’s junior team.

Sky Sports F1 pundit and former world champion Jenson Button is backing the 21-year-old to bounce back.

“Before the first race of the season last year, he put it in the wall before the start of the race,” Button said.

“But the way he bounced back, he absolutely annihilated his team-mate for most of the season. I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s one race, hopefully he can put this behind him and will come out quick in Canada.”

Formula 1 next heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and another Sprint weekend. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 on May 22-24. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime