Red Bull had mixed emotions after the Formula 1 Miami GP Sprint qualifying last Friday (1). While Max Verstappen praised the step forward, Isack Hadjar wants to understand why he was so far behind his teammate.
Read more F1: Aston Martin struggles with lockups and falls in SQ1
With the forced break in April, the teams took the opportunity to bring an update package for the cars to this stage. As a result, the Dutchman managed to qualify in fifth place ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, respectively.
“Today the car felt much more balanced, which was great. Of course, there are still things we are working on, but it was a very positive step for us. In the last races, we were more than a second behind. I would say we have reduced that gap by almost half now, so that is positive,” he said.
“We are still a bit weak in the first sector, which is mainly high speed, so we know we need to work mainly on that. Everything else felt a bit more balanced, so we are more satisfied with that; at least it seems we have passed the midfield pack. It is still not exactly where we want it, but at least I feel the car is allowing me to trust it a bit more and I can extract a bit more lap time, which is positive,” he added.
Read more F1: Alonso sees progress with the AMR26, but acknowledges: «We are a little further behind»
Meanwhile, Hadjar managed to reach SQ3 but will start only ninth, wanting to understand the lack of pace shown. “Like everyone else, we only had one free practice before the Sprint qualifying, so we had to rush to get the car right with the updates we made for Miami,” he pointed out.
“The session itself was calm, at least, and I managed to get into SQ3, which is already a start, but I don’t know why I lost pace in the second half of the session. I have never been this far from Max before, so we need to find out why overnight and come back stronger tomorrow for the Sprint and then for qualifying,” he concluded.
Read more F1: Racing Bulls sees problems in Sprint qualifying: «We have a lot to analyze»
