Laurent Mekies admits Red Bull error after Isack Hadjar disqualification in Miami qualifying. Laurent Mekies admits Red Bull made a costly mistake after Isack Hadjar’s disqualification.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has taken responsibility for the error that led to Isack Hadjar’s disqualification after qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix.

A costly oversight for Red Bull

Red Bull was hit with the disqualification of Isack Hadjar’s RB22 at the end of qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, where the French driver had originally secured ninth place on the grid, lining up on the fifth row.

Post-session scrutineering revealed that a section of the car’s floor exceeded the limits set by the technical regulations by 2 millimetres, resulting in an immediate disqualification.

In situations like this, it is natural to question whether the sister car may have had the same issue. However, Max Verstappen retained his front-row starting position, as his RB22 successfully passed all technical checks.

Mekies: “It was a human error”

Laurent Mekies explained that the problem was due to a simple but significant mistake within the team:

“We made a mistake on Isack’s car,” the Red Bull team principal told PlanetF1.com. “The car was found to be two millimetres too wide. We should have identified it earlier during our routine checks. We didn’t, and that is a serious error, but it is easy to fix.”

“Hadjar and Verstappen had the same specifications.”

Progress, but more work to do

According to Laurent Mekies, Red Bull has already resolved three of the five issues that had been affecting the RB22. However, there is still room for improvement, as is the case for all teams on the grid.

Despite the setback with Hadjar, the Miami weekend marked a return to the front for Red Bull, with Max Verstappen once again competing at the sharp end of the field.

The technical disqualification of Isack Hadjar reveals how high the stakes are in the 2026 development race, where even a tiny 2mm deviation can erase a hard-earned qualifying result. As the team works to refine the RB22, the focus remains on eliminating these procedural errors to ensure that both drivers can capitalize on the car’s returning pace. The main idea is that while a human oversight cost Hadjar his top-ten start, the underlying performance shown in Miami suggests that the team is steadily overcoming its early-season technical hurdles.