Isack Hadjar falls far behind after starting in ninth place in Abu Dhabi, loses ninth place in the World Championship and is visibly frustrated at the finish line.
Isack Hadjar had a race to forget at the Formula 1 finale in Abu Dhabi. After an excellent qualifying session in ninth place, the Racing Bulls driver slipped to 17th in the Grand Prix – and lost his firmly planned ninth place overall in the Drivers’ Championship. The 21-year-old found clear words immediately after the race.
When asked for his summary of the day, Hadjar replied sarcastically: “The event went really well, as you can see.” Despite his disappointment with the finale, he considers his rookie season to have been positive overall: “Yes, I mean, I had a season that was good enough to get promoted, so that’s enough for me. I’m just pissed off that it ended so badly.”
“No pace” – and no explanation for it
Hadjar is brief and blunt in his comments on the race itself. When asked how the battle in the midfield went, he says: “No pace, as expected. I don’t even know how I managed to put the car in ninth place yesterday. No pace all weekend, it’s a shame.” When asked if he knew why the Racing Bulls were so alarmingly slow, the Frenchman shrugged: “No.”
Despite his bad mood, however, he doesn’t want to talk down the season: “Yes, as I said, it’s obviously good enough. I don’t care about this race. It’s just a shame for the team. I wanted to leave on a high note—and I didn’t. That’s a bit sad.”
Hadjar thus ends his time with Racing Bull with an unsatisfactory finish in Abu Dhabi, but nevertheless with a strong season. Particularly noteworthy is his podium finish at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. Hadjar simply says of his time in the Red Bull junior program: “It was very hard. It’s just very hard, but I couldn’t feel more ready to be in the main team.”
Even though Hadjar’s race was disappointing, the team still finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, three points ahead of Aston Martin.
But that is only small consolation for the Frenchman: “Yes, sure. But I lost my ninth place in the championship, so I’m not happy.” In the end, he finished eleventh in the drivers’ standings, having lost two positions to Fernando Alonso and Nico Hülkenberg.