Isack Hadjar admits it was not ideal for the team when he crashed after losing control, but he has already started to understand things and is working on it.
It started off well on the first day for Hadjar in the Red Bull colours, completing 107 laps. He continued momentum on Day 2 in wet with 51 laps, but it didn’t end well as he lost control and crashed in the barrier. The car suffered visible rear damage in leaked pictures and videos.
This put Red Bull in a spot of bother as they had to wait for the next couple of days for new parts to arrive from Milton Keynes. It arrived late on Day 4 and the team could fix it up to allow Max Verstappen to complete 118 laps on the final day, which was crucial for the data.
Despite the good number of laps, it is never good for a young driver to suffer a crash in his first few days with a new team. With Red Bull, it is all the more pressure, considering how many teammates Verstappen has managed to ‘kill’, when they are unable to step up to get near his level.
For Hadjar, he admits losing control of the car, but highlights that he is in the understanding process and working on things to not let such mistakes pop up again. He felt fine with the overall run, especially with over 100 laps done, running not only the new car but also the Red Bull-Ford power unit.
“It was nice to have a good day on Monday,” said Hadjar after the Barcelona shakedown. “It was very productive and we managed to do a lot more laps than we had expected, everything went pretty smooth and we had only minor issues. It was quite impressive considering it was our first day with our own powerunit.
“Unfortunately, on Tuesday, just after switching from wets to inters, I lost control of the car in the final corner and I know the aftermath wasn’t ideal for the Team. The positive is that I have already started to understand and work on things in the car, there are still a lot of things to tweak of course, but it has been steady so far.
“These cars are different, very different, there is definitely a lot less load in general and it is a bit more predictable compared to the previous generation, they are a bit more straightforward. It is easier to play around with them and on the PU side there are a lot more options for the driver to play with. I couldn’t have prepared for this season any better and I am hoping to come into the year strongly, but we are definitely not done with the work yet, I am learning every day,” summed up Hadjar.
Here’s F1 stats from Barcelona
Here’s what Max Verstappen and Laurent Mekies said
