The other Red Bull
There is a Red Bull in third position which is the first of the ‘others’ – of those who do not drive a Mercedes, essentially – and this perhaps could have been expected, taking for granted that Max Verstappen would have again been able to make the difference. But no. The Dutchman, due to a sudden rear axle lock on his RB22, ended up in the wall in Q1 without even completing a single lap. The Red Bull that will open the second row is that of Isack Hadjar, who, having just been promoted from Racing Bulls, immediately showed his talent on the first occasion it really mattered. One can imagine that in Milton Keynes they have finally breathed a sigh of relief: perhaps this time the team will really be able to count on two cars for this season.
Unexpected third place
However, even Hadjar himself did not expect such a result: “No, absolutely not – he admitted to Sky Sport F1 – yesterday we didn’t think we could get into the top three positions and the same today before qualifying. Then everything came together on the last lap. This has been a challenging start to the year for me. Already in Bahrain we did too few laps, not enough. Then we arrived at a track where everything was different, everything new for me here”. The novelty, however, evidently did not scare the young Frenchman from Red Bull, who dreams of following in the footsteps of Alain Prost.
Read more Mercedes, the only problem is reliability: power unit failure on Sainz’s Williams
Unbeatable Mercedes
“It seemed to me that the Ferraris and McLarens were quite far ahead of me – Hadjar further explained to the official F1 channel – but we managed to make up ground during the qualifying session. And then in the end I did a great last lap“. Dreaming of something more than the bottom step of the podium, however, seems impossible for Isack: “Overtaking the Mercedes at the start? The only thing I can do is try to start better than them, but then they are too fast at the moment. The goal is to maintain my position“.
