Isack Hadjar, who made it to the Q3 session and qualified in P9, is set to face disqualification at the Miami Grand Prix as an alleged technical infringement has been flagged.
If the stewards found the issue breached the regulation, Hadjar would have to give up his place and start from the pit lane. Hadjar’s car is reportedly using the same upgrade package as Max Verstappen’s; however, he revealed that he had been struggling to drive it and had faced problems on the straights.
On the other hand, his teammate, Verstappen, who was the last one to set the lap in Q3, challenged Kimi Antonelli for pole and ended up 2nd. Starting from the first row after a long time this season, it remains to be seen how Red Bull manages to hold and advance positions, after the champion has had a horrendous start to races due to car struggles.
Why is Hadjar expected to face disqualification at the Miami Grand Prix?
Hadjar, who is set to start in the 5th row, is under scrutiny for an alleged technical infringement related to the floorboard dimension, which is flagged as not complying with the set rules. FIA’s technical delegate, Jo Bauer, wrote about why Hadjar’s car has been taken under investigation.
Bauer wrote, “After the Qualifying, legality volumes were checked on car number 06. The lhs [left-hand side] and rhs [right-hand side] floor board were protruding 2mm out of the reference volume RV-FLOOR BOARD. As this is not in compliance with Article C3.5.5 of the Formula 1 Technical Regulation, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.” It could be bad news for Red Bull Racing as the driver could be excluded from the grand prix as a form of penalty for a floor board fault, which was sticking out 2 millimetres more than what the current rules allow.
Hadjar reveals Red Bull struggles
In a recent conversation, Hadjar revealed that he struggled to drive the car, describing it as “very hard to drive but very fast.” He said that he faced speed issues on the straights and that the track is proving “tricky” for him as it has “very low grip with a high track temperature.” He doesn’t find the circuit a “flowy” track with good grip, considering it different from others.
The Red Bull driver praised Verstappen’s ability to adapt to different conditions. Mentioning that he made some progress but couldn’t improve much like Verstappen, he elaborated, “In the corners, I can tell you I’ve made big, big progress compared to yesterday. Just I couldn’t tidy up like he did. And on top of that, I’m missing on every straight.”
