Isack Hadjar is dissatisfied with his eighth starting position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The young Parisian had his sights set on the front row, but lost a significant amount of time in his final fast lap. The speed of teammate Liam Lawson – who achieved the best result of his career with P3 – is a small consolation for Hadjar. Racing Bulls once again demonstrated their impressive speed.
The qualification for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was plagued by red flags. The session was halted no less than six times, a record for Saturday qualification. Due to the numerous interruptions, only three drivers had set a lap time before the final minute of Q3, including Isack Hadjar. In his last fast lap, the Franco-Algerian driver seemed to be improving further; telemetry reveals that Hadjar was on track for the third starting position, if it were not for the fact that he lost a lot of grip – and thus time – in the final meters.
Skateboarding Incident
The 20-year-old driver was visibly upset after the session. He was convinced that he would have qualified third without the error. “I’m very angry,” he told the media in Baku. “I had a very good lap until I started skateboarding on that kerbstone. I lost eight tenths up to the finish. This corner was difficult for everyone today,” Hadjar sighed. “Everyone had the same challenge, but I made the mistake. I wanted to take a chance one more time, got an opportunity, but I messed it up.”
Hadjar refused to attribute the mistake to the two-hour qualifying session. “Apparently, my concentration was just depleted in that last turn,” he said cynically. “Before that, I felt so strong.” Nevertheless, reaching Q3 was an impressive achievement for the Racing Bulls rookie, who is already being linked to a seat at Red Bull due to his impressive debut season. He admitted that the third and eighth starting positions are still good results for the sister team. “That’s for sure,” he concluded. “But if the car is performing so well, I can’t be satisfied with this.”
