Christian Horner's kind words for Isack Hadjar after the Australian GP

It was to be in Melbourne that Isack Hadjar officially became a pilot of Formula 1 by starting his first Grand Prix. It would ultimately take until Shanghai for him to achieve his dream and showcase his talent to the world. In Australia, the youngest of the three French drivers on the grid did not start the race after going off track on the formation lap. A small inexperienced mistake while trying to put his intermediate tires in the best temperature window, but with 1000 horsepower underfoot, even minimal pressure can cause the car to stall.


Once his VCARB02 hit the wall, Isack Hadjar didn't need to remove his helmet for his immense disappointment to be understood, materialized by a few tears. The new Racing Bulls driver cracked the armor, just for a moment, reminding us that he is, above all, a 20-year-old whose dream has been delayed.

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Horner advises Hadjar to focus on the positive

Supported by Anthony Hamilton, the father of his idol, the Frenchman returned to his garage, before also receiving compliments and affection from his boss, Laurent Mekies. His counterpart at Red Bull, Christian Horner, also defended the young driver from his academy and called – perhaps – one day to move up to Red Bull.

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"It was quite heartbreaking to see him so dejected. It's his first Grand Prix." regrets the boss of the Austrian team, before praising the work well done by Hadjar at the start of the weekend. "I think the positives he should take away when he reflects on the weekend are that he performed very well in practice and qualifying." Close to his teammate in testing, Isack Hadjar made a strong impression in qualifying, missing out on Q3 by just half a tenth of a second. Eleventh on the grid, he achieved the best performance of all the young drivers, notably clearly ahead of Liam Lawson (Red Bull), who finished only 18th. In China, he will have the opportunity to quickly make up for this minor Australian setback by launching his F1 career in a much better way.

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