Isack Hadjar: “Everything was wrong” in F1 Canadian GP

Isack Hadjar says “everything was wrong” in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix as Racing Bulls’ midfield campaign hit a temporary snag.

Hadjar and team-mate Liam Lawson had collected 20 points over the recent European triple-header, but while their pace initially looked promising neither driver was able to make the tyres work.

Starting from 12th after a three-place grid penalty for impeding, Hadjar said excessive tyre degradation put paid to his chances to move up from a very early stage. That meant he had to pit early on and was put on a very long one-stopper while stuck in traffic.

“I think everything was wrong,” he shrugged. “I had high tyre degradation on the medium. We opened the front left very early, very sudden, and the pace was just very poor. In the end, it was quite easy to overtake, and I didn’t stand a chance. That’s it.”

“Since the start of the weekend, I’m struggling to get a handle on the car. Confidence is very low, even in qualifying. P9 was okay, but I pulled out that lap fighting the car. And over 70 laps, I can’t do it.”

Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls

Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images

When asked why his race was suddenly so difficult, the Frenchman replied: “I don’t know. Barcelona was warmer than this, and we were fast, so it’s not the temperature.”

Team-mate Lawson didn’t fare better after struggling to get his tyres in the right window in qualifying, which left him 19th on the grid. Starting from the pitlane with a new power unit, Lawson didn’t have the pace either to play a meaningful part in the race, and a cooling issue forced his team to retire the car on lap 53.

“The hard fact is that we didn’t have enough pace today to fight in the top 10,” team principal Laurent Mekies conceded. “Isack suffered high graining on his tyres during the first stint on the mediums and sadly we had to retire Liam’s car due to an issue in the cooling system.

“It’s a tight battle in the midfield and even only one tenth can make the difference, and it was enough to drop back instead of attacking forward.

“Looking back at the last few months, every single improvement we’ve made as a team has been made after tough weekends like this one in Canada.”

Racing Bull’s direct midfield rivals did score, setting an intriguing fight over the European summer races. While Williams is still out in front with 55 points, Haas has now moved on equal points with RB in sixth.

Alonso’s seventh place moved Aston Martin up to eighth, six points behind the pair, with Sauber now also on 20 points going into next week’s Austrian Grand Prix.

F1 2025 midfield battle

5. Williams, 55
6. Haas, 28
7. Racing Bulls, 28
8. Aston Martin, 22
9. Sauber, 20
10. Alpine, 11

Additional reporting by Mark Mann-Bryans