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Max Verstappen said he tried to enjoy himself as he fought with the McLaren drivers during the Miami Grand Prix, despite both of them passing him before the end of the race.

The Red Bull driver started from pole position and resisted an attack from Lando Norris through the first corners to hold onto his lead.

However McLaren proved significantly quicker than Red Bull and within a few laps he came under attack from Oscar Piastri. Verstappen resisted Piastri for several laps but eventually lost the lead to him when he ran wide at turn one.

His battle with Lando Norris lasted several laps longer. The pair went off together at turn 11 at one point, prompting Norris to allow Verstappen to re-pass him. Eventually Verstappen appeared to decide to let Norris past, leaving the inside line free for him at turn 11.

The McLaren pair went on to win the race by half a minute. Verstappen, who finished fourth after George Russell jumped ahead of him during a Virtual Safety Car period, said he realised he was unlikely to beat them and decided to enjoy the racing while he could.

“I had nothing to lose so I just tried to have a bit of fun out there as well at the same time,” he told the official F1 channel. “I said yesterday that I will try to do my very best and I think we did that today but unfortunately we just didn’t have the pace.”

“We were overheating a lot on the tyres, so it was quite a bit of a struggle out there. And then of course we got a bit unlucky with the VSC as well, but that’s racing as well.”

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Verstappen said the race conditions played into McLaren’s hands and amplified their superior tyre management.

“It has been already their strength for a while,” he said. “Sometimes on a track where the deg is a bit lower, of course you might not see it as much, but on a track like this with the thermal degradation, it’s of course bigger.”

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