‘Punches’ for everyone and a fifth place finish
More than a driver on the track, in Montreal Isack Hadjar seemed like a boxer ready to pick a fight with anyone who came his way. After all, the Frenchman has never hidden his admiration for the ring and gloves. The second Red Bull driver collected a penalty score to rival the best Maldonado of the golden era but in the end he was right because – thanks to Russell’s retirement and the disaster of the two McLarens – he was the one who grabbed the fifth place finish, the best result of his season so far, although a lap behind the winner.
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The #6 first received 10 seconds of penalty for changing direction multiple times during the duel with Charles Leclerc, trying to defend himself extremely against the attacks of the Monegasque Ferrari driver and coming very close to causing what would have been a terrible accident. Then, to top it off, he got a second penalty for failing to slow down under double yellow flags. This time he got a 10-second stop&go, which however did not prevent him from finishing the race in fifth position. And it was good for the Frenchman that the FIA changed the criteria for assigning penalty points this year, otherwise the Red Bull driver would have accumulated quite a few this Sunday.
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“I started very well, but during the race I struggled a lot to maintain the pace – Hadjar commented after the race – the car was very fast, but difficult to drive compared to Saturday, when I felt more comfortable, so I couldn’t push as much as I wanted. I think we could have taken fourth place, but in the end we had to settle for fifth. The overall performance of the car this weekend was very positive: we made a big step forward compared to Miami and made the most of the weekend. I hope we can keep the same momentum for Monaco“.
