Isack Hadjar acknowledged that he overdid the defense against Charles Leclerc during the Formula 1 Canadian GP, and admitted that he deserved the penalty applied by the stewards. The Frenchman apologized to the Ferrari driver after almost pushing him onto the grass in an aggressive maneuver on the straight.
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Despite the incident, Hadjar left Montreal with his best result of the season, finishing the race in fifth position. The performance served as a confidence boost for the rest of the season, especially on a weekend when the RB22 showed competitiveness again, as had already happened in Miami.
The most controversial moment of the race happened when the Frenchman closed the line too much on Leclerc during a battle on the straight. The action led the stewards to apply a ten-second penalty after the race, although the penalty did not change his final position.
Speaking after the race, Hadjar said he agreed with the race direction’s decision and acknowledged that he went beyond the limit in defending against the Ferrari driver. According to him, the incident was not intentional but the result of a misinterpretation of Leclerc’s car positioning.
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“I have no problem with the penalty, I think it was fair. I was too hard. Actually, it wasn’t even on purpose. I just got confused about where he was going. So obviously I didn’t want to put him on the grass,” he said.
Hadjar also praised Leclerc’s behavior in direct battles and said he made a point of apologizing to the Monegasque after the race. The Red Bull Racing driver considered the maneuver unnecessary and classified the move as a mistake made in the heat of the battle: “He is a very clean driver, so I went to apologize because it was a bit stupid,” he added.
Besides the incident with Leclerc, Hadjar revealed frustration with the loss of car performance in the race compared to the qualifying session. The Frenchman said the RB22 seemed very competitive on Saturday but became difficult to drive during the GP on Sunday, a feeling he compared to the difficulties faced in TL1: “I felt like I was struggling a lot with the car. On Saturday it looked great, but on Sunday it was very difficult to drive. In the first laps I felt comfortable, then they pulled away and I couldn’t keep up with the pace,” concluded the French driver.
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