– For Isack Hadjar, the Grand Prix in Miami was like a brutal reality check after the Frenchman had started his first season at Red Bull strongly. After starting third in Australia and winning a qualifying duel against Max Verstappen in Japan, Florida brought him back down to earth harshly.
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The Frenchman was about eight tenths of a second per lap slower than the four-time world champion before he prematurely crashed his RB22 into the wall on Sunday. The frustration erupted still in the cockpit: Hadjar (once again) angrily hit his steering wheel several times before climbing out of the damaged car.
“I was just furious with myself, I lacked focus because everything had actually been going according to plan before,” Hadjar now looks back on the race with ruthless self-criticism. “We had the right tires on and overtaking worked well. It was clear that we would score points, and I just wanted to risk everything in this race.”
The lessons from the defeat
The bitter retirement still gnaws at the 21-year-old: “When you start from the very back, you naturally want to have fun, overtake, and learn. But I couldn’t because I made a mistake. That’s why I was really pissed off – and to be honest, I still am.”
Despite the frustration, the Red Bull driver emphasizes how important this setback was for his development. He not only has to understand where the missing pace went, but also how to deal with such setbacks as a professional.
“I definitely learned from the weekend where I basically got a proper beating,” Hadjar admits openly. “I have to say that I took away many things – especially how to react when things don’t go well. I simply didn’t do a good job in Miami, but I learned my lessons and now approach the next weekend with much more experience.”
Does it finally mean reaping the rewards after the “learning process” and updates?
That this learning process is already bearing fruit was indicated on Friday in Montreal. Although the fourth row on the grid is by no means the expectation for Red Bull, Hadjar got significantly closer to Verstappen again in the sprint qualifying and kept the gap to just one tenth of a second. (To the sprint qualifying report)
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While Hadjar struggled in Miami with the typical problems of a “number two” at Red Bull, the team made a huge leap on the technical side. After the first update package had fizzled out in Japan, significant innovations – including massively revised sidepods and their own version of the so-called Macarena wing – brought the hoped-for breakthrough.
“I never really doubted the team,” Hadjar explains looking at the development curve. “It’s no secret that some competitors started their projects earlier than we did, which was clearly visible in the first weekends. But the upgrade definitely surprised me and many others in the paddock.”
Missing puzzle piece causes a shrug for Hadjar
Another puzzle piece for the sudden performance jump in Florida was revealed by Verstappen to Dutch media: Red Bull had identified and fixed a problem with the steering system. Verstappen had been plagued by this deficit since the shakedown in Barcelona – the new solution gave him the confidence in Miami to attack fully again.
For Hadjar, however, this technical side note caused a shrug in Canada: “Well, that wasn’t the case for me. We didn’t use the same new steering column in Miami. And to be honest, I didn’t feel what Max felt before.”
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For the Frenchman, this is just another proof of his teammate’s exceptional class: “It just shows how extremely sensitive he is to such details and how precisely he knows what he needs. That’s really impressive.”
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