Isack Hadjar finally completes an F1 race and a lot of promise
For his first appearance in Formula 1, Isack Hadjar showed encouraging potential at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday. After a solid weekend, he crossed the line in 11th position, penalized by a questionable Racing Bulls strategy which deprived him of his first elite points.
Starting from seventh place on the grid, Isack Hadjar made an excellent start at the Chinese Grand Prix this Sunday. Going wheel-to-wheel with Charles Leclerc at the first corner, he then conceded two positions to Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda. Despite this, the Frenchman maintained a solid pace, staying on the tail of the drivers ahead of him.
A poor strategy
In the heat of the battle for the top 10, Isack Hadjar suffered the consequences of a questionable strategy from his team. While most drivers were betting on a single stop, Racing Bulls decided otherwise with two pit stops, relegating the Frenchman in the standings.
“I didn’t know it was so obvious that a one-stop strategy was faster. Honestly, I’m satisfied, apart from lap 1 where I really had a great start. The start was excellent. I was alongside Charles Leclerc at turn 1. It’s a bit of a track where you depend on what’s happening in front of you, and Yuki Tsunoda was very aggressive at the beginning. He managed to take the position, but after that, honestly, I think I had a very good race. I was always faster than the cars in front of me at one point, I was even threatening Kimi Antonelli. I think we were fast. I’m happy with my race,” declared the young French driver to Canal+.
Despite this decision, the rookie showed impressive speed. Following a collision between Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Jack Doohan (Alpine), as well as the disqualifications of several drivers (Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and Pierre Gasly), the 20-year-old driver finally crossed the line in 11th position. While he fell just short of scoring points, he can nevertheless be pleased with his promising F1 debut and harbor high ambitions for the upcoming races.
For his F1 debut, Isack Hadjar displayed a solid level of performance in China. After a promising start and a steady pace, a two-stop strategy prevented him from scoring his first points. Ultimately classified 11th following several disqualifications, he approaches the rest of the season with optimism. The next event is at the Suzuka circuit in Japan on April 6th.
