Isack Hadjar was left to rue a big mistake on his final lap in Q3 at the F1 Azerbaijan GP. The Racing Bulls driver threw away a probable front row start for Sunday’s race. Instead, he will be seeing the red lights from 8th.
What happened to Isack Hadjar in Q3 at the F1 Azerbaijan GP
After sitting in P3 for most of the session thanks to crashes from Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri that meant only he, Lawson and Sainz had a time set until the dying seconds, Hadjar was on a big improvement on his last attempt.
In fact, he was over a tenth quicker than teammate Liam Lawson heading into the last sector as he took 0.250s out of the Kiwi in the middle sector.
Unfortunately for the Zandvoort podium finisher, he ended up running slightly wide in turn 16. It basically turned his Racing Bulls car into a skateboard over the exit kerb. He lost 0.8s compared to his teammate in S3.
The 20-year-old did not hide his disgust after qualifying in the print media pen.
“Yeah, I’m very pissed off. I had a really good lap until I went skateboarding on that kerb. I lost 8 tenths all the way to the finish line.”
“If I’m okay at math, third,” was Hadjar’s response to where he think he could have ended up.
He expanded on it when asked about the tricky conditions they faced because of the wind and drops of rain.
“These cars have been difficult for everyone today. So it’s the same for everyone, and I made a mistake.”
Sitting in P3 before those last laps, many would have taken another red flag to keep that spot. Not Isack Hadjar, however.
“Honestly, I wanted to go out there and drive. I got this chance, and I blew it away.”
Isack Hadjar extremely disappointed with himself for not getting the maximum in F1 Azerbaijan GP qualifying
As the positives were put to him that both Racing Bulls cars start inside the top 10, Hadjar was still thinking about his mistake.
“That’s for sure, that’s true, but it’s just that… it’s not what I want to be when the car can deliver better, that’s it.”
When it was put to Hadjar about the difficulties of keeping concentration during the six red flag stoppages, he took one more dig at himself for his mistake.
“Apparently my focus capability stopped in the last corner, and that was it. But I felt very strong before that.”
