Explained: How Max Verstappen pulled off stunning Miami qualifying turnaround

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The Miami Grand Prix weekend has already shown how fine the margins are at the sharp end of F1, after Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen both pipped McLaren to pole positions. The Mercedes driver started the one-third-distance sprint from first, whilst the Dutchman will enjoy the same advantage for the main race. As expected, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been right up there, with the aforementioned quartet the only drivers to grace the first two rows of the Miami International Autodrome grid this year. Verstappen, however, was the most improved amongst the four between sprint qualifying on Friday and the proper grid-setting session on Saturday. The Red Bull driver turned a two-and-a-half tenths of a second deficit in SQ3 into a six-hundredths of a second advantage in Q3 around 24 hours later. Oftentimes, such a pronounced development can be explained away as one lap simply being better than the first. However, analysing the data unearths some remarkable points of comparison between the four-time F1 drivers' champion's two laps. The track dominance contrast - against Norris/Piastri and Antonelli - clearly shows Verstappen is performing better at the end of straights, as well as the twisty chicane that ends the middle sector on Saturday. That is perhaps surprising, given those are not generally areas of strength for Red Bull and the RB21. When that is juxtaposed against Friday's data, it reveals the only place Verstappen held an advantage in sprint qualifying was between Turns 4 and 8, something that can be expected, as it is often the case with the 27-year-old. He retained his edge there on Saturday. Late braking and top speed Verstappen's change in fortunates is visible in the data, particularly when studying his dominance into heavy braking zones on Saturday (as shown above) and the step forward the RB21 took in comparative top speed between the two qualifying sessions (shown below). The 64-time grand prix winner only finds one km/h in top speed, but Antonelli holds stead and Norris slows by three. Piastri loses four. Full throttle However, performance on the straights alone does not tell the full story, as Norris holds a clear advantage over Verstappen under acceleration. On Friday, Piastri and Antonelli shared the spoils on those sections of the track. Verstappen does, however, spend more time at full throttle and more time under braking than any of the other three - across both sessions. He is also braking less, suggesting he is doing it later, in grand prix qualifying as opposed to sprint qualifying. That is complemented by the Dutchman increasing full throttle usage on Saturday. Throttle and braking across the lap Whilst Verstappen's top speed is an improvement, versus holding steady (Antonelli) or even taking a step backwards (the McLarens), and certainly a factor, full throttle and braking better explain where he found the lap time compared to Friday. The time Verstappen is finding in the braking zone is support by the graph below, which compares his speed and throttle percentage across both his qualifying and sprint qualifying laps. Whilst he was getting back onto the gas pedal fractionally later, the added speed at corner entry off-set any losses there. Added confidence The brilliance of Verstappen's qualifying effort should not be minimised, but the data does suggest Red Bull found a way to make the RB21 more stable and compliant between Friday evening and Saturday evening. Crucially, that step preserved the 27-year-old's advantage through high-speed corners, which are his domain, whilst it also allowed him to attack slower corners more aggressively. This, in turn, would have given Verstappen more confidence in the package beneath him, further maximising on positive set-up evolution.