Isack Hadjar continued his strong run of form with a seventh-placed finish in Spain, calling the race “a lot of fun” as he battled his way to his third points score in a row.
But there were contrasting fortunes for Liam Lawson, who also found himself with his elbows out on a number of occasions. The Kiwi racer tried his best, but ultimately came home just outside the points in P11.
Hadjar managed to hold position off the line from P9, battling hard with fellow Frenchman Pierre Gasly in the early stages. Those two had stayed up late watching Paris Saint-Germain play in the Champions League the night before, but there were no signs that either were taking it easy on the other once the visors went down.
Hadjar only dropped to 10th after his first pit stop and remained in the top 10 after his second stop. He was running seventh at the Safety car restart, but had had to fit used soft tyres – while Nico Hulkenberg behind had a fresh set of boots on. Although Hadjar lost out to the Kick Sauber, he crossed the line eighth – inheriting seventh when Max Verstappen had a penalty applied.
Hadjar scored for the third race in a row in Spain
“Really happy, it is the best race we could have done. I really enjoyed it as well as there was some really good fighting, especially on Lap 1 with Fernando [Alonso] and Pierre [Gasly], honestly I had a lot of fun and overtook a few cars as well,” the rookie said.
“Good pace on the medium was I think our strength and we made the most of it, extended on the soft, honestly we played it really well today. It’s just a shame at the end that Nico [Hulkenberg] on new tyres got us but, you know, he was way too fast for us.”
Hadjar has finished ninth, sixth and seventh in the first three European races, helping Racing Bulls rise above Haas in the championship. It is a far cry from how his season started, following his formation lap crash in Australia.
“I feel like I couldn’t have imagined a better triple header, three points finishes in a row is definitely great, good momentum and I feel like the car is finding a bit more pace and we also know how to extract it. So, I think the momentum is great,” he added.
Lawson battled hard on Sunday, but came home just outside the points
Team mate Lawson was also in the thick of the action. He pulled out an incredible late-braking move on Alex Albon, although the two did make contact at one point. He then tried something similar on Ollie Bearman later in the race, doing everything he could to move forward from P13 on the grid.
Lawson found himself 10th at the Safety Car restart, but he had stuck with his original soft tyres – which were already 14 laps old when the Safety Car appeared. That left him a sitting duck at the end, as he lost out to Fernando Alonso to wind up 11th.
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“From our side it was a very strong race, we just ended up in the wrong position. We missed the Safety Car line by half a second probably so everyone in front of us boxed and we just got screwed, so it’s just… to have it that close, after all the work we did in the race, just sucks,” Lawson explained.
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