Despite starting ninth, after 15 laps he was up to second and within five seconds of his championship rival. It meant he could overtake the Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Alpine swiftly and without losing too much tyre life and time being stuck behind others, ensuring that he stayed in touch with leader Sergio Perez in the early stages. It may not be worth enormous amounts of lap time individually, but its strength certainly helped Verstappen to the win. This effective use of DRS – useful in both qualifying and races – is something the other teams do not have in their armoury. When Verstappen overtook Alpine’s Pierre Gasly for fourth in Miami, the difference in speed was 30kph, so Vasseur is not exactly wrong. Other teams have noted this, with Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur calling it rather bluntly a “mega-big DRS effect”.

It was evident when Max Verstappen charged through the field from 15th to second in Jeddah and again in his drive from ninth to win in Miami on Sunday. There has been plenty of talk this season about the effectiveness and power of Red Bull’s Drag Reduction System (DRS).

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