Should Isack Hadjar’s Miami F1 nightmare concern Red Bull?

Red Bull insists it is not worried about Isack Hadjar’s disastrous weekend at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

Hadjar endured a weekend to forget in Miami as he missed out on points in the sprint before qualifying ninth for Sunday’s grand prix. The 21-year-old Frenchman would later be disqualified for illegal car floorboards, consigning him to a pit lane start.

Eager to make up ground early on, Hadjar climbed as high as 15th before crashing out of the race when he clipped the inside wall at the chicane on lap five, breaking the front-left suspension on his Red Bull.

There was also a bigger gap between Hadjar and team-mate Max Verstappen on a weekend Red Bull brought upgrades that gave the four-time world champion increased confidence.

But Hadjar’s nightmare in Miami was not a cause for concern, according to Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies.

“I don't think we should qualify that as a worry,” Mekies told media including Crash.net. “We had a tough weekend. This has not helped our performance. In terms of driving and in terms of rhythm, he still didn't get into the right rhythm.

“I think he would have been strong in the race, and was strong for the little he could have shown. I don't think we are worried.

“We certainly didn't have a clean weekend. We didn't help him either by sending him from the back of the grid after our mistake with the legality of the car. So no, not worried.

“Not a clean weekend, but there is every indication that we'll be in the right speed again in Montreal.”

Red Bull apologised for the mistake which led to Hadjar being thrown out of qualifying.

Explaining the technical infringement, Mekies said: “The car was found to be two millimetres too wide. I call them the FIA bargeboard.

“It's the compulsory part that we have there. We should have spotted it earlier in our routine checks. We did not. It's painful, but it's easy to fix.”

Mekies confirmed the FIA was happy with Verstappen’s car, which was the same specification as Hadjar’s RB22.

Reflecting on his race, Hadjar was left hugely frustrated by his costly race-ending mistake.

“I was too eager and too excited about making those moves and just ruined myself,” Hadjar told Sky Sports F1. “It was easy to overtake and [I] should have been more cautious. There was no point trying to flirt with the limit in this corner. So I'm really, really pissed off.

“It's the first time I really struggle with my overall pace. This is new and I really need to dig deep because I don't want another weekend like this.

“Even though I couldn't put it together, I couldn't do what I wanted, I still felt faster than the last two weekends for example.

“If I do the job, put it together, you look at Max, what he's done yesterday [in the sprint], what he's doing now [in the grand prix]. Clearly the car made a step. It's not over, but I'm happy they found something.”