Isack Hadjar hurt by engine issues to finish outside points in F1 Singapore GP, as Liam Lawson takes blame that the crashes cost him eventually.
It didn’t start as well for Visa Cash App RB’s Hadjar in F1 Singapore GP as he lost a place to Fernando Alonso. The Frenchman started on the soft compound and was hampered on the dirty side, which sent him into Oliver Bearman, who took an avoiding action at Turn 1.
They escaped any penalties as Hadjar hung on to ninth behind Alonso. But his grand prix soon turned into a salvage job when he was alerted about a potential power unit issue, which cost him two to three tenths per lap. He was more in defensive mode than attack from then on.
His saving grace was Alonso’s slow stop but the Spaniard had strong pace to fight back through on his tail. Despite the brave attempt from Hadjar, the Aston Martin driver managed to sneak through. He lost to Bearman as well and was running 10th for the most part until the final few laps.
His issues helped Carlos Sainz to clear him to take away the final point. Post-race, Hadjar was alerted about the ‘hero’ comment from Alonso, which prompted the Frenchman to call him ‘grumpy. “It is a good race if I have no issues, I still enjoy the track,” he said to media. “Yeah [the start], especially on the left side of the grid with no grip, so maybe that was not the best call.
“The whole second half of the race, or more. I had other issues than just the heat, just a lot of vibrations in the car, and had a bit of a headache. But other than that, not really. [The fight with Alonso,] I mean, I didn’t push him off the track. I kept it clean. If he didn’t enjoy that fight then he’s really grumpy, and there’s nothing I can do for him,” summed up Hajdar.
Teammate Lawson had no luck. He went long in the hope to cut the rest of the group. But Williams played a game via Alexander Albon, which meant the Kiwi emerged behind the Thai after his stop. This allowed Sainz through the Visa Cash App RB driver, which was crucial for the Spaniard.
In fact, that allowed Sainz to catch Hadjar for 10th. Lawson was left frustrated by the situation, but took part blame after his double shunt on Friday and Saturday. “Yeah, basically that, the only question mark is — I need to have a look at — why, but I have no idea how we came out behind that big train of cars, and Carlos came out in front of them, because we were actually in front of him before the stops.
“So yeah, frustrating, obviously. It’s something that was my doing. [Saturday] was very costly before qualifying to miss all the new tyre running. To have a car that obviously was just put back together in time — the team did a major job to put the car back together — when you go out for qualifying, it’s not going to be completely perfect.
“And I’m trying to drive two, three seconds quicker than what I’ve been driving before I crashed it. So, a big, big learning curve for me, something that I take responsibility for,” he added. “But the race, the car was strong.
“We struggled a little bit towards the end of that long stint on tyres, especially compared to Williams. But yes, some positives to take away. And no [nothing from Helmut]. [The positives I can take is] don’t crash,” reflected Lawson on his grand prix.
Here’s Fernando Alonso on duel with Isack Hadjar
