Hadjar penalized for causing a red flag, a first in F2
This Friday, the qualification of the Formula 2 Azerbaijan Grand Prix took place. Isack Hadjar, a driver for Campos team, encountered an unexpected issue with his single-seater, leading to a red flag. In accordance with new racing rules, the officials decided to penalize the Frenchman.
Following the introduction of new rules, the race direction is now allowed to penalize drivers who cause red flags during qualifying sessions. Isack Hadjar has thus become the first Formula 2 driver to receive a penalty for causing an interruption in the qualifying session.
When he began his final attempt to secure the pole position, the French driver locked up his brakes at the first turn, sending his car into the run-off area until it hit the safety barrier. Just a few seconds later, his teammate, Pepe Martí, would encounter the exact same issue, ultimately ending up in the wall.
It turned out that the brakes of both Campos drivers overheated, inevitably causing wheel lock.
As a result, the session was interrupted by a red flag, so that the cars could be evacuated and the run-off area could be restored.
New rules that cost the French dearly.
If the incident should have ended there, it turns out that since this year, Formula 2 has introduced new rules, which give stewards the power to delete a driver’s best lap time if they are deemed responsible for a red flag.
As the two Campos team cars crashed almost simultaneously into the wall, the stewards judged that only car No. 20 of Hadjar was responsible for the red flag.
The stewards therefore considered that he should be sanctioned: « The stewards concluded that the driver’s failure to negotiate turn 1 due to overheating of the rear brakes was within the control of the driver and the team, and that a penalty was therefore justified. »
« Article 33.5 is new for 2024 and has been designed to recognize that a driver who causes a red flag can impact all or certain other drivers who, at that time, are trying to complete a qualifying lap, » they specified.
These individuals, however, admitted that they did not believe that the Frenchman’s accident was intentional: « It is important to note that no malicious intent is attributed to the driver by this penalty, but that its purpose is to recognize the potential harm that other drivers may have suffered because of the red flag, caused solely by the driver of car 20. »
Hadjar currently leading the championship, initially qualified fifteenth before his best time was deleted. He will now start twentieth.
The same rule was introduced in F3 this year and was applied for the first time at Hungaroring when Luke Browning had an accident.
