Frenchman, Isack Hadjar confirmed he “relied on Liam” for holding up the field at the Monaco GP.
Isack Hadjar finished P6 at the Monaco GP, his highest finish to date in F1. The Frenchman credited his team-mate, Liam Lawson for the result. Lawson lapped considerably slower than those in front, holding back thise behind him. As a result, Hadjar did lose his then P8 position as Hadjar pitted.
Working together as a team
Hadjar said Lawson executed “the plan perfectly”. Even though qualifying “was the most intense day”, Racing Bulls both finished in the points at the Monaco GP.
“[Qualifying] was the most intense day and most hard work I’ve had to put in since I can remember. And today, you know, it was a bit easier because, you know, I really relied on Liam. He followed the strategy, the plan perfectly and he offered me really early pit stops. So that was the target and that was perfectly executed.”
When asked in a follow-up if he was stressed about the strategy, he knew he could trust his team. Hadjar continued, “No, I think the key was just to keep it productive and keep the talking with my engineer to know what was going on. I was aware of Liam’s pace, we were keeping an eye on Fernando. We knew what was going on, I was ready to box at any time. It was quite easy and I had fun.”
From an underwhelming Friday to a proud Sunday
Hajdar started the weekend by clipping the wall in FP1 and destroying his right rear tyre in FP2. The 20-year-old turned ended his Monaco GP weekend on a high note with him and his team doing a “fantastic job.”
The Frenchman told the media, “I’m really proud because, you know, you go into FP3, you finish P17, you go into quali, confidence is a bit ruined. And I’m proud that we didn’t give up and we played it smart, going step by step and disconnected the brain little by little every qualifying lap. So now we did a fantastic job.”
Smooth sailing at the end
The Racing Bulls rookie was one of the first to finish his two mandatory pit stops. He had to stop himself from “nearly falling asleep” due to the nature of the Monaco GP.
“Yeah, the problem is you’re nearly falling asleep because you’re doing tyre management and it’s becoming really boring.And actually sometimes I was picking up the pace bec ause I was so bored but I had to keep thinking. So no, it was a long wait to the end.”
Hadjar was not scared of losing his position as the checkered flag got closer and closer. The only thing on his mind were his tires.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect a safety car because the level of the field is really high so I knew nothing was going to happen. So I was confident the position was secured and I had to go until the end on these tyres which was a bit painful.”
