Isack Hadjar experienced a Formula 1 Canadian GP full of difficulties and penalties, but still managed his best result with Red Bull Racing. The Frenchman finished the race in fifth place and surprised by admitting that he agreed with the two penalties he received during the race in Montreal.
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Despite the positive result, Hadjar acknowledged that he had performance problems throughout the race. The driver stated that he could not understand why he lost pace after showing strong performance in the previous sessions of the weekend.
The French driver had been showing competitiveness since TL1 and qualifying sessions (for the Sprint race and the GP), but found it difficult to keep up with the front runners during the race. Even so, he managed to take advantage of problems faced by direct rivals to achieve his best position of the season.
Hadjar’s race was also favored by George Russell’s retirement and the strategic problems faced by the two McLaren drivers. Still, the Red Bull driver had a complicated and practically solitary race for most of the laps.
His first penalty received was a ten-second addition, after changing direction several times while defending against Charles Leclerc. The incident caused a dangerous moment on the back straight of the circuit and caught the attention of the stewards.
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Soon after, Hadjar received a ten-second stop/go penalty for not reducing speed during a yellow flag. The sanction cost the driver significant time, who nevertheless did not try to contest the race direction’s decision.
When questioned about the penalties, Hadjar made it clear that he considered the decisions correct: “I don’t mind the penalties, I think they were fair,” the driver said after the race.
The Frenchman explained that his main concern was related to the lack of performance during the race in Montreal: “I really don’t understand where the pace went, because I felt I was struggling a lot on track. On Saturday I felt great in the car, and now it was very difficult to drive,” concluded the Red Bull driver.
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