Miami, May 3 (IANS) Isack Hadjar will start the Miami Grand Prix from the back of the grid after being disqualified from qualifying due to a technical violation on his Red Bull Racing car. He initially secured an impressive ninth-place finish.

Hadjar showed promising pace, qualifying just seven spots behind his four-time world champion teammate Max Verstappen. Red Bull seemed to benefit from a significant upgrade package introduced over the weekend. However, post-session checks uncovered a breach of technical regulations, leading to an investigation by the stewards.

The problem came from a small irregularity in the car’s floor assembly. A section on both the left and right sides was found to stick out beyond the allowed reference volume by 2mm. This small deviation violated the sport’s strict technical rules, resulting in Hadjar’s exclusion from qualifying.

Despite this setback, Hadjar can start the race from the back of the grid since race officials deemed his practice session performances satisfactory. Red Bull accepted the ruling without contest. Team principal Laurent Mekies gave a straightforward response.

“We made a mistake and we respect the decision of the stewards,” Mekies said. “No performance advantage was intended or gained from this error.

“We will learn from this incident and review our processes to understand how it happened and to make sure it does not occur again.

“As a team, we apologize to Isack, our fans, and our partners. We learned the hard way today, but we will move forward.

“Now our focus is on turning yesterday’s encouraging performance into a strong race this afternoon.”

The Miami Grand Prix at Hard Rock Stadium will start earlier than planned due to forecasts of heavy rain in the area. On the grid, Kimi Antonelli will start on pole position for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, adding another intriguing element to what is shaping up to be an unpredictable race.

–IANS

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