Red Bull's Hadjar Disqualified from Miami GP Qualifying for Technical Infringement
French driver relegated to 22nd grid spot after car floor exceeded regulations by 2mm; Antonelli takes pole
Quick Look
- Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar has been disqualified from qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix after stewards found his car’s floor exceeded the reference volume defined by 2026 regulations by two millimeters.
- The 21-year-old Frenchman, who posted the ninth quickest time, will start from the back of the grid in 22nd place.
- Red Bull accepted the decision, admitting a breach of the technical regulations.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The 2026 Formula 1 regulations introduced new technical specifications including defined reference volumes for car components. Red Bull acknowledged the error and stated they would review procedures to prevent recurrence.
A little update from AFP on the grid: Red Bull's Isack Hadjar will start from the back of the grid in the Miami Grand Prix after he was disqualified on Sunday from qualifying for a technical infringement on his car. Hadjar had posted the ninth quickest time in Saturday's qualifying but the stewards announced that the Frenchman's car failed its inspection. They said its floor was deemed non-compliant because its dimensions exceeded by two millimetres the reference volume defined by the 2026 regulations. Red Bull accepted the decision and "admitted a breach of the technical regulations", the stewards specified. "We made a mistake and we respect the stewards' decision," said team principal, Laurent Mekies, in a statement. "No advantage was sought or gained from this error. We will learn from this mistake and review our procedures to understand how it happened and ensure it does not happen again." Hadjar, 21, is therefore relegated to the back of the grid in 22nd spot.
Share Weather update A reminder that the start time for this race was brought forward three hours to 1pm ET/6pm BST because of the threat of heavy storms. Outdoor sports events in Florida must be stopped if there's a lightning strike within an eight-mile radius of the venue and can't restart until there's been no thunder of lighting for 30 minutes, which means we could be in for a little disruption this afternoon. There was heavy rain earlier this morning and it's dry now, but the storms are forecast to return around 1pm … which also happens to be the start of the race.
Share Tom will be here shortly. In the meantime, here's how qualifying went down: Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the Miami Grand Prix with a strong lap, but only by narrowly beating a resurgent Max Verstappen and Red Bull into second place. After the session had finished, the FIA, F1 and the Miami promoter issued a joint statement announcing the start of Sunday's race had been brought forward from 4pm to 1pm local time – 6pm BST – because of heavy thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon. On the track Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were in third and sixth for Ferrari, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in fourth and seventh for McLaren, while Antonelli's Mercedes teammate George Russell could manage only fifth, four-10ths back from the Italian. Antonelli, who leads the world championship by seven points from Russell, claimed his third straight pole, reasserting Mercedes' pace at the front of the field that had looked to be genuinely under threat over the weekend in Miami. Not least when Norris and Piastri took a dominant one-two in the sprint race earlier on Saturday at the Hard Rock stadium. You can read the full report below:
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Open Questions
- How did the floor dimension error occur in the first place?
- Will Red Bull face any additional penalties?
- How will this affect Hadjar's championship standings?
