(Motorsport-Total.com) – Isack Hadjar faces disqualification from the qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver secured 9th place in the Q3 results on Saturday with a gap of 0.991 seconds, but then failed the subsequent technical inspection. FIA chief inspector Jo Bauer reported the issue to the race stewards, who are expected to exclude Hadjar from the classification after a hearing on Sunday at 1:00 PM German time.
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The RB22 was found to have illegal dimensions of the so-called underfloor board. This refers to the underfloor structure located in front of the sidepods. Bauer therefore reported a violation of Article 3.5.5 (“Floor Bib”) on Saturday evening.
The article concerns a small but aerodynamically crucial area on the underfloor of a Formula 1 car, the so-called “Floor-Bib.” This component in the front underfloor area is subject to strict geometric requirements: it must lie entirely within a precisely defined reference volume and must neither protrude beyond it nor create additional aerodynamic advantages through complex shapes. Furthermore, the regulations stipulate that the surface of the component may only have gentle curves—sharp edges or strongly curved surfaces are explicitly prohibited.
It was only two millimeters …
The background of these detailed regulations lies in the central importance of the underfloor for the aerodynamics of modern Formula 1 cars. Even minimal deviations can bring measurable performance gains, which is why the FIA controls this area particularly precisely. In Hadjar’s case, an exceedance of the allowed area by only two millimeters was enough to classify the vehicle as non-compliant. A typical example of how uncompromisingly the rules are applied in this sensitive area.
Hadjar is therefore expected to lose his ninth starting position for the race on Sunday and instead have to start from the pit lane. The rookie was thus unable to capitalize on Red Bull’s upward trend after the team brought a comprehensive aerodynamic update to Miami. His teammate Max Verstappen qualified alongside polesitter Kimi Antonelli on the front row.
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What Hadjar says about Miami Saturday
“After qualifying, I was a bit frustrated with my own performance because I didn’t manage the laps I had planned in the crucial final runs. There was definitely more lap time to be gained,” Hadjar said before the rule violation became known. “I had performance problems on the straights, which made it difficult to put everything together. But the positive thing is that we made a big step and are much better positioned before the race.”
In the F1 sprint on Saturday morning, Hadjar finished ninth and thus missed the points: “In the sprint, the car improved significantly compared to yesterday, which was also evident in Max’s performance. The start was frustrating, but I was able to recover well and felt good in the car. The overtaking maneuver against Franco was the highlight of the sprint for me.”
The start of the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday was moved forward from 4:00 PM to 1:00 PM local time due to threatening thunderstorms. For Formula 1 fans in Germany, this means the race starts at 7:00 PM CEST. (Here is the Formula 1 live ticker!)
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