Red Bull brought a series of upgrades to the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, hoping to unlock improved performance in the RB22. The decision seemed to pay immediate dividends for Max Verstappen, who put his RB22 on the front row during qualifying, and he will start second alongside pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli later today.
However, Isack Hadjar qualified ninth — 0.825 seconds behind Verstappen — which was frustrating enough for the Red Bull driver.
But that frustration worsened Sunday morning, when Hadjar was disqualified from qualifying following a post-session inspection.
During the post-qualifying scrutineering, race stewards found that the floor on Hadjar’s RB22 was protruding approximately two millimeters beyond the specifications allowed for in the 2026 F1 technical regulations. Hadjar and a Red Bull representative were summoned to a hearing with race officials, set for early Sunday morning.
Following the hearing, Hadjar was disqualified from qualifying.
In the report from race stewards, they noted that Red Bull “did not dispute the findings of the Technical Delegate that portions of the LHS and RHS floor boards were protruding 2mm out of the reference volume RV-FLOOR BOARD.”
Race officials imposed the standard penalty for a breach of the technical regulations, which is a disqualification from the session. Red Bull then requested that Hadjar be permitted to start the race, despite being disqualified from qualifying, and race officials granted that request.
Hadjar will line up 22nd on the grid, at the back of the field.
Speaking after qualifying, Hadjar outlined his frustration with the upgrades, and his performance during the hour.
“The car was very hard to drive, it was very fast. In Q3 I just couldn’t put it all together and on the other side we have no straight line speed,” Hadjar said after qualifying.
“I think it’s a very tricky track, very low grip with high track temperature. So nothing to do with what we had in the first three rounds. It’s not a very fluid racing track with good grip.
“It’s completely different and Max is very good at adapting to these conditions. In the corners I can tell you I’ve made big progress compared to yesterday. I just couldn’t tidy up like he did and on top of that I’m missing in every straight.”
Now he’ll have to make up significant ground on the track, in what is expected to be a very wet Miami Grand Prix.
