Isack Hadjar disqualifed from Miami GP qualifying

Hadjar had struggled for pace and originally qualified ninth, well behind his team-mate Max Verstappen, who secured a place on the front row. However, the situation worsened after post-session checks by the FIA found an issue with his car’s floor.

The stewards confirmed that parts of the floor were outside the allowed limits by 2mm. While the margin was small, Formula 1 regulations are strict, and even minor breaches must be penalised. As a result, Hadjar was disqualified from the qualifying results and dropped to the back of the grid, with all drivers behind him moving up one position.

In their full explanation, the stewards stated: “The Stewards heard from the team representatives of Car 6 (Isack Hadjar). They 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.

This is a breach of Article C3.5.5 of the FIA F1 Regulations and the usual consequences follow an admitted breach of the technical regulations.

Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 5 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.

Decisions of the Stewards are taken independently of the FIA and are based solely on the relevant regulations, guidelines and evidence presented.”

The team, led by Laurent Mekies, accepted the decision and admitted the mistake. In their response, they said: “We made a mistake and we respect the decision of the Stewards. No performance advantage was intended nor gained from this error.

We will learn from this incident and assess our processes to understand how it occurred and to take steps to ensure it cannot happen again. As a team, we apologise to Isack, and to our fans and partners. We learn the hard way today but we will move forward.”