Isack Hadjar reckoned it was harsh to score just the one point in F1 Saudi Arabian GP, as he feels pushed by Liam Lawson too, who ended up outside points.
Despite opting for hard compound to start the F1 Saudi Arabian GP, Visa Cash App RB’s Hadjar was unable to crack the Williams code at the end of it. The Frenchman made a good start – even though starting on a hard tyre – to be 10th after passing Fernando Alonso.
He went long on his first stint to try and combat Alexander Albon, considering that Carlos Sainz was already way up the road. But it didn’t work out for the Frenchman, who slotted behind the Thai after his pit stop. On the fresher compound, he caught the back of the Williams driver soon.
But Williams played a team game by asking Sainz to slow down and give DRS to Albon for the last 10-15 laps. The strategy worked. Despite attempts from Hadjar, he couldn’t get through the defences and had to settle down for a harsh one point, but he felt better than how qualifying was.
“Yeah, it was a perfect race and to get only one point is a bit harsh,” said Hadjar to media. “But yeah, when I knew the two Williams were ahead of me after the pit stop, I knew I was cooked. It [DRS-tow strategy] was so obvious. I knew it, but still I did my best to put him under pressure, but it didn’t work.
“I knew Lap 1 was going to be tough. Actually my launch was not great. But my Lap 1 fight was definitely good, and I didn’t feel like we were lacking a lot of grip compared to the cars around. It’s really at the end of Albon’s stint that I felt like we have a lot of pace, because he was struggling a lot. I was starting to feel good with the tyres. So I knew it was time to go for a push.
“Overall, it was again a really strong drive, maybe a bit better than Japan, because there were more challenges. As I said, Lap 1 was really tough, and we made the most of it this time. It was interesting as well on the strategy, we played a different game. It was definitely an interesting one. But yeah, I’m really happy except for qualifying,” summed up Hadjar.
When asked if teammate Lawson is now pushing him the same way as Yuki Tsunoda, he was affirmative. “Honestly, this weekend he was really, really fast,” he said. “In qualifying, he made the most of the car. He’s definitely getting stronger now, and definitely pushing me just like Yuki was pushing me as well.”
The Kiwi, though, ended up outside the points which included another time penalty when he was passing Jack Doohan. He went slightly off-track at Turn 1 and awarded a 10s time penalty, which dropped him further. He felt good in the car, but couldn’t be more in the points fight.
“The end of our race was absolutely flat out, trying to make a 10-second gap to Fernando, but it wasn’t for the points anyway,” said Lawson to media. “It’s a shame we just ended up on the wrong end of it. We [Liam and Isack] were on different strategies, so unfortunately my strategy didn’t work, we spent the race overtaking cars.
“It worked out for Isack, I think he had a clean first stint and made most of it. It is great for the team obviously to get a point this weekend, especially when we really had the pace this weekend for Top 10, but we keep working towards Miami.
“I don’t know what it [penalty] was for, to be honest. [It was against Jack?] I mean I tried to stay on track, to be honest I didn’t know if I went off, I was trying to keep it on. We weren’t in the points anyways,” summed up Lawson.
Here’s Williams pair on working against Isack Hadjar
