Isack Hadjar topped the Q1 charts in the F1 Mexico City GP qualifying. However, was “still a bit pissed” after a mistake in Q3.
The Racing Bulls driver started qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez by going fasted in Q1 with a time of 1:16.733. Lewis Hamilton was the second fastest in Q1, 0.003s shy of the Frenchman.
Later on in Q3, the Racing Bulls star expected to be higher up on the grid. After a mistake, Hadjar will start the Mexico GP in P8, behind championship leader, Oscar Piastri. When asked about starting next to the Australian, he responded, “Oh yeah, I mean, saying it like this, it’s true it’s a good session, but I’m still a bit pissed.“
The French driver continued he was surprised at the gaps as ultimately Racing Bulls hit their peak earlier in qualifying than the top teams and Carlos Sainz.
“I had a very good, I was on a very good lap. Made a bit of a mistake, and actually I was more further away than I expected. So clearly the other guys made good progress through qualifying and we didn’t.”
“Made all the right calls”
Hadjar stayed within the Top 10 during all three qualifying sessions. (P1 in Q1, P10 in Q2, and P9 in Q3.) On Friday, the 21-year-old was off the pace, as he ended P11 in FP1 and P14 in FP2. With this turn around in performance, Hadjar said the change was “very good.“
“Honestly, we made all the right calls yesterday, so that’s the most important to me. We really understood what was going on, we were slow and now we’re pretty fast. So within two sessions to turn the car around is very good.“
With his P1 stance in Q1, Hadjar hoped the pace would travel to a higher starting place for Mexico City GP. The Frenchman noted, “That’s why I was a bit, I expected more, but it was the top six. They [the top teams] keep finding performance through qualifying and we simply don’t.”
Understanding limitations
With an even starting position, Hadar would have a disadvantage going into Turn 1 on the dirty side. However, the 21-year-old hopes to take advantage of his good starts and of the “chaos” of the long run into the first turn.
“Yeah, honestly now it’s been, I don’t know how many races I’m starting on the wrong side of the grid. Because I know my starts are good, but we keep being on the wrong side and it’s a long run into turn one. But let’s see, honestly it should be chaos, hopefully, and we take the opportunity.”
The Frenchman noted the kerb-riding limitations of his VCARB 02. Even with the challenge, Hadjar “managed to max out pretty much everything” to land his P8 starting position.
“I mean clearly, I’m not going to lie, the main issues we have with our car is the kerb-riding. It’s just, it’s just poor, you know. So you have to compromise between how much loads you’re giving up and how much compliance you get with your car. So in the end we managed to max out pretty much everything, so, very good.”
At the end of the day, Hadjar felt confident after his qualifying performance, saying, “We handled it very good, and we let down a bit of track [evolution] to make sure we had clean air. It was worth it”
