For Hadjar, "everything was going wrong" in Canada
The French driver was surprised by the Racing Bulls' race pace. After encouraging qualifying, he could do no better than sixteenth place, breaking his run of three consecutive races in the points.
A race to forget for Isack Hadjar. After three consecutive races finishing in the points, the Paris native experienced the most difficult race of his career, finishing only in sixteenth place, second-last among the drivers who crossed the line. A result that illustrates the difficulties faced by the Faenza team on Sunday in Canada, also marked by Liam Lawson's retirement. For the Frenchman, the verdict is clear: Everything went wrong. The Italian car lacked pace and struggled to get its tires working.
Yet, the beginning of the weekend seemed promising once again (11th and 13th places for the two drivers during the last free practice session), and the team hoped to bring both cars into Q2. A hope quickly dashed for Liam Lawson. Unfortunately, the New Zealander did not manage to get the maximum out of his single-seater and only qualified in 19th position.
A delicate single-seater and too aggressive on the tires.
If Hadjar managed to reach Q3, the Frenchman was not satisfied with the behavior of his car: "It was difficult to drive on this track. The car's balance was not really consistent. It was a bit hit or miss at every corner, and I had little confidence," he explained to the F1 microphone after qualifying.
A finding that was unfortunately confirmed on Sunday, with a single-seater unable to preserve its tires. Twelfth on the grid after a three-place penalty for obstructing Sainz in Q1, the Racing Bulls driver quickly suffered from excessive tire degradation during his first stint. Forced to stop very early, he rejoined in heavy traffic. Clear-headed, the 2024 F2 vice-champion stated:
I've had significant degradation on the mediums. We opened up the front left very early, quite suddenly, and the pace was just very poor. In the end, it was quite easy to overtake me, I didn't stand a chance. That's all. Since the start of the weekend, I've been struggling to control the car. Confidence is very low, even in qualifying. The 9th place was okay, but I managed that lap fighting with the car. And over 70 laps, I can't keep it up like that.
A Missed Weekend for Racing Bulls in Canada
The Frenchman struggles to understand this sudden lack of pace after a very satisfying triple header (9th in Imola, 6th in Monaco, 7th in Spain). According to him, it's not a question of temperature.
The race was even more difficult for his teammate Liam Lawson. Already relegated to 19th position after qualifying, the New Zealander chose to start from the pit lane after changing his power unit. Lacking pace and falling victim to a cooling issue on the 53rd lap, the native of Hastings was ultimately forced to retire. For the team director, Laurent Mekies, the car simply lacked performance this weekend:
« The fact is that we simply did not have the pace to fight in the top 10 today », admitted the Frenchman to Autosport. « Isack suffered from severe graining on his tires during his first stint on mediums, and unfortunately, we had to retire Liam's car due to a cooling issue. »
Bounce back quickly, the mission of the Italian team
The former race director at Ferrari remains optimistic about the future. He knows that a small improvement can make a big difference, given how small the gaps are between the cars in the field.
« The battle is very tight in the pack, and sometimes a tenth of a second can make all the difference. That was enough for us to be left behind instead of attacking forward. If we look at the last few months, all the improvements we've made as a team have come after tough weekends like this one in Canada. »
A reaction is nevertheless expected from Racing Bulls as early as Austria, especially since its direct rivals have all scored points.
Rivals who hunt Racing Bulls
If Williams is firmly established at the top of the midfield with 55 points scored, a battle is raging behind. Thanks to Esteban Ocon's ninth place, Haas is now tied with Racing Bulls, both teams totaling 28 points. Aston Martin, thanks to Alonso's seventh place, gains seven additional points and now has 22 points, six behind Haas and Racing Bulls.
Finally, Sauber continues its resurgence with Hülkenberg finishing in eighth place. The Swiss team has a total of 20 points and distances itself from Alpine. The French team is at the bottom of this ranking with only 11 points, all scored by Pierre Gasly.
The battle among all these teams promises to be more uncertain than ever and should once again bring excitement to the upcoming weekend in Spielberg.
