'Still not where I want it to be' – Verstappen pushing for more Red Bull performance despite P5 in Miami Sprint Qualifying

Max Verstappen admits his Red Bull car is "still not where I want it to be" but that his performance in Sprint Qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix was "a really positive step for us" after finishing fifth.

The Dutchman will start from the third row for Saturday's Sprint at the Miami International Autodrome, having notably out-qualified the Mercedes of George Russell and Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.

The four-time World Champion was six-tenths behind polesitter Lando Norris, but was encouraged having been able to break free of the midfield battle with Red Bull bringing several upgrades this weekend, including a version of Ferrari's 'flip-flop' rear wing.

"It feels more together," said Verstappen when asked how the car had improved. "Of course, there's still things that we are working on but it has been a really positive step for us.

"Last few races we were like over a second behind. I would say we have almost halved that gap now, so that's positive. We're still very weak in the first sector, which is mainly high speed so we know we need to work on that.

"The rest seemed a bit more together, so a bit happier with that, at least it seems like we have cleared a little bit the midfield.

"It feels a bit more normal [to drive], a bit more together. Still not where I want it to be obviously but it's at least allowing me to trust it a bit more and I can take a bit more lap time out of it."

Red Bull team mate Isack Hadjar qualified ninth but was frustrated after being one second adrift of Verstappen, claiming he needed to work with the team as "I know how to drive".

"It was smooth at least," he said. "Got through into SQ3 which is a start but then to be a second off, I don't know why. I've never been more than a tenth off so far this year when it mattered, I don't know what's going on."