Isack Hadjar finishes ninth but faces scrutiny for blocking Sainz, while Lawson points to tyre prep issues after disappointing run.
Isack Hadjar finished ninth in qualifying, but the Racing Bulls driver is under investigation for impeding Carlos Sainz. Speaking to Canal+ about his performance, the Frenchman said he was satisfied with his fast lap.
“Ninth was the best we could do, I was struggling with the car, it was tough. I didn’t have much confidence, and we ended up in ninth place so it’s still a good result,” said Hadjar, who pointed to poor information from his team.
“It’s a shame, I was told that Sainz had aborted his lap, so I didn’t move out of the way and he was actually on a flying lap. It’s always tricky to manage traffic, especially on a circuit like this. I trust my engineer — that’s what I’ve done since the start of the year, I’ve never impeded anyone, so it’s a bit surprising that this happened.”
Liam Lawson couldn’t find any performance, particularly because his team changed the run plan and he wasn’t able to prepare his tyres: “I have no idea. We struggled to get the tyres working from the first lap all weekend.”
“We did a warm-up lap on the first run and the tyres were in the right window, but we didn’t do one on the final run and I had no grip during the lap. It’s quite disappointing.”
Asked about the reason behind this choice, he simply explained it was the decision taken: “We knew we had the time, but once you’re committed, you realise it’s not working. I could have aborted and gone again, but the tyres wouldn’t have been in the right window.”
