Racing Bulls driver, Isack Hadjar, made his sixteenth Q3 appearance, qualifying P9 for the F1 Abu Dhabi GP. Even through he performed better in Q2, the French driver still had “no regrets” over final Q3 results.
The rookie’s strongest effort came in Q2, where he set a 1:22.997, 0.075s quicker than his push lap in Q3. When speaking in the print media pen after qualifying, Hadjar shared the reason for his slower pace in the final segment.
“Yeah, I made a step in my driving to find something special, but Q2 and Q3 were identical conditions. I couldn’t find more grip and I made a few mistakes. The best I could have done was to replicate a Q2 lap and still would have been denied. No regrets.”
After seeing the graining and tyre wear on the Yas Marina Circuit, teams might stray away from last year’s one-stop strategy. With all options in the air, Hadjar was unsure of how strategy will play out on Sunday’s F1 Abu Dhabi GP.
“It should be one stop, but the deg we saw yesterday was higher than expected compared to last year. I don’t know.”
Year-End vs Weekend Performance
Isack Hadjar reflected on his stellar qualifying performance his rookie year. The Racing Bulls rookie has made it to Q3 for every 2 out of 3 qualifying sessions. Even though his year-end qualifying results were high, the 21-year-old was still annoyed. He feels the pace of the VCARB 02 this weekend is not particularly great.
“It’s been very good. Very decent, better than I expected. I’m happy again to be in Q3. I’m just a bit pissed about the overall car performance this weekend. It’s just not been good enough.”
Promotion to Red Bull
Red Bull announced on Tuesday that Hadjar will replace Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull Racing for 2026. However, the 21-year-old has one last race for Racing Bulls. When asked if he was thinking about the promotion this weekend, Hadjar noted he is “focused on the job left to be done“. Racing Bulls are looking to secure P6 in the Constructors’ Championship. They sit 12 points clear of Aston Martin going into it.
“Not at all. You can see on my face I’m just very focused on the job left to be done. I need to find something special tomorrow to score points because it’s going to be difficult.”
Hadjar knows that he has to shift his mindset moving up to Red Bull, however he as one “final Sunday” to enjoy with Racing Bulls.
“Now it’s going to get a lot more serious. I’m going to enjoy that final Sunday.”
