Isack Hadjar is now asking himself the same question as Max Verstappen’s former Red Bull teammates

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Isack Hadjar has now begun to ask himself the same question as Max Verstappen’s former Red Bull counterparts after being outqualified by the Dutchman by nearly a second during Sprint qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.

The young Frenchman will start Saturday’s Sprint from the fifth row on the grid in P9, with Max Verstappen occupying the fifth-place spot alongside George Russell.

While Verstappen’s data from the first meaningful session since F1’s return from a five-week break was encouraging, it also indicated that the RB22 is struggling to eke out performance in high-speed corners, as pointed out by Jenson Button.

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However, as is usually the case at Red Bull, Verstappen managed to get the most out of their new package during the shootout, which has left Isack Hadjar with a mountain of frustration.

• READ MORE: Red Bull warned they will be ‘completely lost’ if Max Verstappen leaves the F1 team

Isack Hadjar can’t understand why he was a second behind Max Verstappen in Miami Sprint qualifying

During his post-session comments to French broadcaster Canal+, Hadjar detailed his frustrations with being nearly a second away from Verstappen’s best time in SQ3 at the Miami Grand Prix.

The day started out in a similar vein, with Verstappen’s P2 lap time from FP1 putting him just under 1.3 seconds faster than his teammate.

“Honestly, since this morning, I’ve been struggling to… I don’t really understand what’s going on,” Hadjar admitted. “It’s frustrating; I’m a second behind my team-mate.

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“I’ve always known why I was slower and why I was sometimes faster than him in the first three Grands Prix. But a second? We’ll have to find out why. I know I can still drive.

“I’m not going to understand it. It’s also difficult to analyse the developments in this context, that’s for sure. I’m not enjoying the car at all.

“For me, it’s not a big step forward. For Max, he’s certainly half a second off pole. It’s the best result of the year for us.”

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Helmut Marko previously detailed the questions all of Max Verstappen’s teammates ask

Red Bull’s second seat ‘curse’ has been widely reported on in recent years, due to the fact that Verstappen’s teammates have seemingly been incapable of matching or surpassing the four-time world champion’s benchmarks.

During a 2022 interview with Car and Driver, former Red Bull chief Helmut Marko detailed how Verstappen’s teammates have always been asking the same questions, ones that Hadjar is now beginning to ask himself.

After asserting that “having Max as a teammate isn’t good for your career”, Marko was asked if the Dutchman’s counterparts are often aware of that.

The Austrian replied, “Yes. They compare their cars to his: ‘Do I have the same equipment?’ They think, ‘How can I beat him?’ They can’t, so they try to change the car’s setup or adapt their driving style.

“Of course, you can’t just accept that you’re not as good as him. At some point, you have to acknowledge, well, there’s someone who’s special, and it’s just not possible to beat him.”