Toto Wolff admits surprise at Red Bull’s ‘giant leap forward’ in Miami

Wolff caught off guard by Red Bull’s Miami turnaround

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted his surprise at Red Bull’s sudden surge in competitiveness at the Miami Grand Prix, a leap that propelled Max Verstappen back into contention at the front of the field.

Ferrari and McLaren feel the pressure

Red Bull’s progress only served to underline Ferrari’s struggles. Despite introducing no fewer than 11 upgrades on the SF-26, Ferrari left Miami with a muted P6 and P8 for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. The result capped off a frustrating weekend for the Scuderia and highlighted how raw upgrade numbers do not always translate into lap time.

McLaren, meanwhile, also rolled out new components and appeared to gain ground. Their progress suggested a shift in the pecking order, with McLaren seemingly moving ahead of Ferrari while remaining firmly in the same competitive conversation as Red Bull.

Wolff: Red Bull’s jump exceeded expectations

Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Wolff reflected on what he witnessed in Miami as attention turned to the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix. While he expected some movement at the front due to the steep development curve of the new regulatory cycle, Red Bull’s scale of improvement stood out.

“We’re only at the start of this new regulatory cycle, and the development curve is very steep, so we expected that McLaren, with a significant update package, could gain as much as half a second,” Wolff explained.

“I must say that Red Bull has been a big surprise because they’ve taken a giant leap forward, going from being more than a second off the pace to being right up there fighting with Verstappen.”

Wolff also confirmed that Mercedes will continue to bring updates of their own, stressing that fluctuations in performance should be expected as the season unfolds.

“We’ll be bringing developments to Canada too, but I think it will be normal, over the course of this year, to see performance levels change from race to race.”

Development race just getting started

While Red Bull’s chassis issues hampered them early in the year, their power unit has been described as a consistent performer in the opening phase of the season. The combination of encouraging engine form and visible chassis progress in Miami suggests that Red Bull’s trajectory is firmly upward.

As Wolff acknowledged, the development battle under the new regulations is far from settled. With multiple teams introducing updates at nearly every round, Miami may prove less an outlier and more an early sign of how volatile the competitive landscape could become as 2026 gathers momentum.