Isack Hadjar still in the top 10 on the grid in Miami: “It’s not bad!”

Not sure there will be many other smiles than those of Isack Hadjar and his boss Laurent Mekies this evening within the fold Red Bull. If the Frenchman was once again very good in sprint qualifying, the afternoon was much more complex for his teammates. First, Liam Lawson, his teammate, stopped in SQ1, castigating his " very bad » tour, which relegated him to more than six tenths of a second behind Hadjar.

SQ1 was also fatal for Lawson's replacement at Red Bull, Yuki tsunodaThe Japanese driver did not have time to set off for a final attempt after his team mismanaged the timing, and will also start from the back of the grid. Finally, Max Verstappen, driven by his ambition to become champion, will hardly be satisfied with his 4th place, even if, for the Dutchman, the main thing this week is elsewhere with the birth of his daughter Lily.

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Hadjar once again well ahead of Lawson 

Isack Hadjar, on the other hand, has reason to smile thanks to his performance on the track. The Parisian pulled his candy pink Racing Bulls to SQ3 at the end of a session where nothing was easy. After a mistake on his first lap in SQ1, his time was erased for breaking track limits. Facing the wall and with no room for error on his second attempt, Isack Hadjar responded perfectly to qualify for the second segment of qualifying.

There, he once again showed his qualities to snatch 10th place in the time trial and a place in SQ3, where he did better than Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) to qualify 9th, just outside the points. "I think it's not bad!", he rejoices on Canal+. I had a good session this morning (in FP1), but with the changing conditions, I felt less comfortable with the car. In SQ1, I struggled, in SQ2, I adjusted my approach, then we moved on to SQ3, when at one point I didn't think it was possible. At the end of SQ3, I had a problem in the pits, so I was in the wrong car, I was on the verge of not crossing the line in time to start my lap.

"Tomorrow, in the sprint race, there is a point to take because Alex Albon (Williams) starts just in front of me (8th, the place to which the last point is awarded, editor's note), so I'm going to try to overtake him at the start. If I don't manage that from the start, it could be very complicated," anticipates Hadjar, who knows how difficult overtaking will be, especially if the cars follow each other using DRS.

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