Isack Hadjar left the Miami Formula 1 GP under pressure, after a complicated weekend for him. The Frenchman suffered a solo accident early in the race and concerns arose about a possible drop in performance against Max Verstappen, who apparently is ‘finding himself’ again with the Red Bull Racing car.
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The fear was raised by former F1 driver and current commentator, Karun Chandhok, who assessed the young driver’s situation after another significant gap to his teammate. According to him, the moment resembles difficulties faced by other drivers who shared a garage with Verstappen in recent years.
Hadjar struggled throughout the weekend in Miami. Both in the Sprint qualifying and in the qualifying session for the main GP, Verstappen opened a comfortable gap over the Frenchman, a scenario quite different from what had been seen in the early stages of the season.
Chandhok pointed out that the change coincided precisely with the recent evolution of the team’s car: “What catches my attention is that we got to Japan and Hadjar was very close to Verstappen,” said the former driver to Sky F1.
“We all thought: ‘This is strange at Suzuka, a Max Verstappen track. What is going on?’ But I feel that as soon as the car improved and the performance window advanced, when they started fighting for front rows and poles, the gap returned to eight or nine tenths,” he said.
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The situation worsened in Sunday’s race. Hadjar crashed on the sixth lap after touching the inside wall of turn 15, which caused damage to the steering column before the car hit the circuit’s protective barrier.
Chandhok said the Frenchman needed to complete more laps to regain confidence after a difficult weekend: “I felt bad for Hadjar, because that crash was not what he needed,” he added.
“He needed mileage to regain some confidence. I hope this is not the start of a spiral for him, as we have seen with the last five or six of Verstappen’s teammates. That eight or nine tenths gap appeared again,” he concluded.
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