Isack Hadjar overcomes double practice crash to deliver “perfect weekend” in Monaco

Isack Hadjar was delighted to overcome two crashes in practice to deliver a “perfect weekend” at the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.

Hadjar starred in qualifying, securing fifth on the grid for the race following Lewis Hamilton’s penalty for impeding Max Verstappen.

The Frenchman maintained fifth off the start and settled in ahead of Fernando Alonso and Hamilton.

Racing Bulls were the first team to exploit the two-stop regulations.

RB teammate Liam Lawson deliberately backed the pack up to allow Hadjar to make his two pit stops without losing too much track position.

Hadjar ultimately lost out to Hamilton in the quicker Ferrari but secured his best result of the year with sixth, finishing narrowly ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon.

Reflecting on the race, Hadjar thanked teammate Lawson for his defensive work.

“Was a perfect weekend for me,” Hadjar said.” Honestly yesterday I had a lot of fun, a lot more fun than today, but still the race was perfectly executed.

“Liam helped me massively. It was great teamwork and also he helped me, but he also got points so I’m really happy for him.”

It wasn’t a smooth weekend for Hadjar, crashing twice in second practice.

Hadjar was pleased with the turnaround as his confidence was “quite low” heading into qualifying.

“Honestly, I’m really proud because after Friday confidence was quite low, FP3 was really tough,” Hadjar added.

“Didn’t have much confidence in the car and still somehow we managed to turn around really quickly and that was a great team effort so I’m really proud of my guys.”

“Nothing came easy” for Racing Bulls in Monaco

Lawson backed Hadjar up with his best result of the year by finishing eighth.

Their results mean they have moved ahead of Aston Martin in the 2025 F1 constructors’ championship.

“Don’t get me wrong, nothing came easily in this weekend,” team boss Laurent Mekies said.

“If you recall, we were not exactly topping the practice session time. We took it step-by-step, the guys have been doing a huge amount of laps, that was our only priority in FP1 and FP2.

“You have seen some kisses with the wall in free practice. So nothing came easily but slowly everything has been put together. The team has been doing an amazing job to support the talent of Isack and Liam.”