Red Bull junior driver Isack Hadjar feels he won both races in Melbourne last weekend after a penalty cost him victory in Saturday’s opener.
Hadjar won again in Sunday’s feature race but this time the stewards did not intervene and he kept the victory.“It does feel like redemption,” said the Campos driver after his Sunday win. “But to be fair, in my mind, I won yesterday on track and that’s the most important to me.
“Then the penalty came and it’s just less points in the championship, obviously. But to my mind I won twice this weekend and that’s what matters the most to me.”
He was given a 10-second time penalty for his role in a crash seconds after the start of Saturday’s race, which sent his team mate Pepe Marti and Gabriel Bortoleto spinning into the barrier at the pit lane exit.
Campos asked the stewards to review the decision but their request was turned down on multiple grounds. The stewards ruled video footage Campos supplied did not reveal significant details and, in some cases, was not new. The team also initially failed to pay the required €2,000 fee, which was introduced this year.
Hadjar’s luck changed on Sunday when a Virtual Safety Car period allowed him to save time during his mandatory pit stop and jump into the lead.
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“After the first few laps I was P8 and it was clear which lap I was going to pit,” he said. “Pepe had the priority, he was going to be pit before me.
“The lap I pitted I knew to do a good in-lap and I would have clean pit lane. Then I saw the VSC and from that point, honestly, I knew it was pretty much in the bag.
“I got super-lucky with, that, I have to admit but, when you look at my last year and a half, it’s been a disaster for me on this point of view. So it feels good.”
Hadjar said his first win of the season shows he’s always had the speed to be competitive.
“I think I performed really well, just like in Jeddah and Bahrain, but we just didn’t get the results, due to technical issues and being taken out,” he said. “So it was a tough start to the championship, but the speed has always been there. It was the case this weekend but we got a little bit of luck, so it made a big difference.”
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Formula 2
- F2 champion Pourchaire to make IndyCar debut for McLaren at Long Beach
- Prema announce move into IndyCar with new two-car team in 2025
- Fortune finally favours Hadjar with Melbourne feature race win
- Bearman loses first F2 point of 2024 after penalty
- Hadjar loses sprint race win to Stanek after penalty for causing start crash
Retired (@jeff1s)
26th March 2024, 9:04
Last week was a mess of a job by the FIA and the stewards, it started as early as the first on m-track session in F3 practice and ended at the very last lap of the F1 race.
Back to Hadjar and his penalty. To most it seems a racing incident due to a slow start in front, even Pepe Marti was congratulating Hadjar on his sprint win…
F1 really have to review the stewarding system as it failed massively in Australia. There’s a two-week gap to Japan and lots of homework to do from the FIA. Complacency is a plague.
PlosslF1
26th March 2024, 10:28
I know how he feels, in my mind Hamilton is 9 times WDC ;-)
CarWars (@maxv)
26th March 2024, 15:30
minus one for Massa ;-)
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
26th March 2024, 16:02
It’s not Hamilton’s fault Glock stayed out on slicks while it was raining. he should probably a 10 time world champion had he not bottled 2007, but it is what it is, hes had some great opportunities, and still does.
Ryan (@giraffeman92)
26th March 2024, 19:22
Glock was behing Hamilton anway before the rain and Glock gained a position so was actaully the correct call
PlosslF1
26th March 2024, 20:33
I did include 2007 (cool fuel anyone?), but if you include 2016 when he’s engines were suspiciously going bang all over the place and none of the other 8 teams supplied weren’t (one even had a big end bearing failure after 380 miles when its 100,000 miles in average road car) you could call it 10 I suppose.