During his post-race print media session, Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies conceded that the team and a “performance deficit” contributed to driver Isack Hadjar’s difficult weekend at the 2026 F1 Miami GP. The Red Bull drivers’ weekend went from bad, after his disqualification from the GP Qualifying, to worse when Hadjar’s race ended abruptly when he crashed into the barriers on Lap 6.
Confronted with his driver’s difficult weekend and asked whether Hadjar’s 2026 F1 Miami GP was a cause for worry, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies responded:
“No, I don’t think we should qualify that as a worry.”
Mekies believes Red Bull’s mistake and “straight-line deficit” hampered Hadjar’s Miami GP performance
Summarizing the Miami GP weekend as “tough”, Mekies explained that the team’s mistake ahead of Qualifying and a “straight-line performance deficit” hampered Hadjar’s chances this weekend.
“We had a tough weekend. To be honest, we know we haven’t done everything perfectly on our side without giving away too many secrets.
“You may find out for yourself that we have had a straight-line performance deficit on his car for most of the weekend. This has not helped the overall performance. I think in terms of driving and in terms of rhythms, he slowly got into the right rhythm.”
Red Bull’s Team Principal believes that Hadjar could have achieved a solid result based on the performance he had shown in the opening laps of the 2026 F1 Miami GP.
“I think he would have been strong in the race, and he was strong for the little he could have shown. Hence, 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.”
Considering the contributing factors and Hadjar’s overall performance, Mekies doesn’t view his driver’s Miami GP performance as worrisome.
“So, no, not worried. Not a clean weekend, but there is every indication that we will be at the right speed again in Montréal.”
Red Bull oversight caused Hadjar’s disqualification
Despite facing a “performance deficit”, Isack Hadjar qualified ninth for the 2026 F1 Miami GP. However, during FIA scrutineering following the Qualifying hour, officials found that the floor of Hadjar’s car had protruded 2mm too far on both the left and right-hand side. The Stewards reviewed the matter and decided to disqualify Hadjar from the session.
“They were on the exact same spec. We made a mistake with Isack’s car,” Mekies clarified when asked whether his drivers raced with different specs. The Red Bull team principal took responsibility for the mistake, admitting that the team should have recognized it during “routine” checks ahead of Qualifying for the Miami GP, as it would have been simple to correct.
“It’s very simple, the car was found to be two millimeters too wide on this, I call them the FIA mark, 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.”
No issues were found with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull after the F1 “2026 Miami GP Qualifying, according to Mekies.
“The FIA was happy with Max’s car, yes.”
