Carlos Sainz has been feeling the heat all season long. With Williams stuck at the back of the midfield and only two points to his name—the sole tally for the team in 2026—the pressure is mounting. The Miami Grand Prix was supposed to be a turning point, but instead, it turned into a tense showdown with Max Verstappen.

Early in the race, a close call between Sainz’s Williams and Verstappen’s Red Bull sparked an immediate outburst over team radio. "What the f*** was that?" Sainz demanded, his frustration boiling over. His engineer, Gaetan, tried to calm things down with a simple "We’ll report," but Sainz wasn’t having it. "I think he pushed me off," Sainz fired back. "He thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he’s racing in the midfield." Gaetan’s reply—"That’s a long race, a long race"—was the most diplomatic thing said between them all afternoon.

Verstappen, meanwhile, is navigating his own struggles. While Red Bull’s new upgrade package has closed the gap to the frontrunners, the three-time world champion is far from his usual dominant form. He’s been vocal about his frustration, calling the 2026 cars "anti-racing" and comparing them to Mario Kart. After the last race, he even hinted at walking away from the sport at the end of the season. A frustrated Verstappen stuck in the midfield is a very different beast from the one who used to cruise ahead with a second of clear air.

The chaos didn’t stop there. Just moments before the Sainz-Verstappen incident, Pierre Gasly’s Alpine was flipped after contact with Liam Lawson’s Racing Bull, forcing Lawson to retire with damage. Earlier, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar slammed into the wall at Turn 14 after brushing the inside of Turn 13, breaking his suspension arm and leaving him pounding his steering wheel in fury.

For Sainz, Miami was another reminder that every point is a battle—and sometimes, the fight is as much with the drivers around you as it is with the car.