Red Bull Formula 1 team principal Laurent Mekies isn’t concerned about Isack Hadjar’s tough Miami Grand Prix, as he felt mistakes on both sides contributed to his nightmare weekend.
Having struggled to match Max Verstappen’s pace in the upgraded Red Bull F1 car, Hadjar qualifying and finishing in ninth place in the Miami sprint while the Dutch driver qualified and finished in fifth, the French driver’s weekend nosedived after he was thrown out of grand prix qualifying for illegal car floorboards.
Red Bull confessed it was a team mistake and apologised to its driver, who was forced into a pitlane start. Hadjar made impressive gains early on, rising to 15th on lap five, when he blamed a lack of focus for hitting the inside wall at Turn 14, which broke his front-left suspension and put him in the wall at Turn 15.
Given Red Bull’s second-seat problem stretching back to 2019 after Daniel Ricciardo left, team boss Mekies isn’t concerned about Hadjar’s Miami showing and expects it to be a blip, as he had been much closer to Verstappen’s level over the opening three rounds.
“I don’t think we should qualify that as a worry,” Mekies said about Hadjar’s crash. “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.
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Liam Fabre
“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.”
Mekies clarified that Hadjar had the same floorboard spec as Verstappen but Red Bull failed to spot the illegality before the car went into parc ferme, meaning once the FIA technical team discovered the problem, it was too late to make amends.
“The car was found to be two millimetres too wide,” Mekies explained. “I call them [the part] 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.”
For his part, Hadjar conceded he lost concentration which led to his crash, having been “flying” at the start of the Miami GP, but also admitted he had been struggling for pace all weekend prior to the race.
“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.”
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Hector Vivas / Formula 1 via Getty Images
The 21-year-old was using Verstappen’s pace as a reference given he “felt faster” than the previous rounds but just didn’t click with the upgraded car in Miami.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Team
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
