Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2024: Isack Hadjar falls victim to bad luck in qualifying
The Formula 2 qualifying session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw Victor Martins finish 3rd. Isack Hadjar, the championship leader, only managed 15th place due to a brake issue. Discover the results of this session, disrupted by a red flag.
Bad luck seems to be definitely following Isack Hadjar. During the qualifications, the French driver experienced a real nightmare. Already struggling at the beginning of the session, he lost control of his single-seater in the first turn during his last attempt. Unable to slow down, he hit the wall, prematurely ending his session. The French driver will start from the fifteenth position.
RED FLAG 🚩
DISASTER FOR CAMPOS! 😬
Isack Hadjar locks-up and goes straight on at turn 1, just before Pepe Marti does the same thing! #F2 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/JKgMnbMDMY
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) September 13, 2024
A few seconds later, it was his teammate Pepe Martí who met the same fate, hitting the wall at the same spot as Hadjar. The images showed the two Campos team cars, sporting Red Bull colors, side by side in the wall, an unprecedented scene. Both drivers apparently suffered from a brake issue, as revealed by Hadjar’s onboard camera, which clearly showed that the car was not slowing down.
At the restart, it was finally Richard Verschoor from the Trident team who took pole position. His teammate Christian Mansell, a newcomer to Formula 2 following Roman Staněk’s departure, is in tenth place, allowing him to start from pole position for the sprint race (inverted grid for the top ten). Qualifications were well conducted by the Italian team, placing its drivers in pole position for both races of the weekend.
On his side, the Frenchman Victor Martins qualified in third place. He will therefore start sixth in the sprint race.
The result of the qualifications
| Drivers | Équipes | Times | Écarts | Laps | |
| 1 | R. Verschoor #22 | Trident | 1:54.857 | 11 | |
| 2 | A. Antonelli #4 | PREMA Racing | 1:54.874 | +0.017 | 10 |
| 3 | V. Martins #1 | ART Grand Prix | 1:55.102 | +0.245 | 11 |
| 4 | Z. Maloney #5 | Rodin Motorsport | 1:55.128 | +0.271 | 11 |
| 5 | K. Maini #9 | Invicta Racing | 1:55.174 | +0.317 | 10 |
| 6 | G. Bortoleto #10 | Invicta Racing | 1:55.330 | +0.473 | 11 |
| 7 | J. Dürksen #24 | AIX Racing | 1:55.331 | +0.474 | 11 |
| 8 | G. Minì #3 | PREMA Racing | 1:55.442 | +0.585 | 10 |
| 9 | J. Crawford #7 | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:55.634 | +0.777 | 10 |
| 10 | C. Mansell #23 | Trident | 1:55.645 | +0.788 | 11 |
| 11 | L. Browning #2 | ART Grand Prix | 1:55.724 | +0.867 | 11 |
| 12 | P. Aron #17 | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1:55.938 | +1.081 | 10 |
| 13 | D. Hauger #11 | MP Motorsport | 1:56.136 | +1.279 | 10 |
| 14 | J. Correa #8 | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:56.253 | +1.396 | 10 |
| 15 | I. Hadjar #20 | Campos Racing | 1:56.653 | +1.796 | 10 |
| 16 | E. Fittipaldi #14 | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:56.686 | +1.829 | 12 |
| 17 | R. Miyata #6 | Rodin Motorsport | 1:56.696 | +1.839 | 11 |
| 18 | O. Goethe #12 | MP Motorsport | 1:56.708 | +1.851 | 10 |
| 19 | A. Cordeel #16 | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1:56.711 | +1.854 | 10 |
| 20 | R. Villagómez #15 | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:56.887 | +2.030 | 11 |
| 21 | J. Martí #21 | Campos Racing | 1:57.218 | +2.361 | 10 |
| 22 | N. Koolen 25 | AIX Racing | 2:01.644 | +6.787 | 9 |
