What Red Bull made of Isack Hadjar’s Canadian GP and double F1 penalty

Red Bull has cast its verdict on Isack Hadjar's Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

29 May 2026

Hadjar scored his best result as a Red Bull driver

Isack Hadjar recorded his best finish of the 2026 Formula 1 season for Red Bull at the Canadian Grand Prix, despite being hit with a double penalty.

The 21-year-old Frenchman come home fifth in Montreal to secure his best result with Red Bull since stepping up from sister team Racing Bulls over the winter.

However, Hadjar was hit with a 10-second penalty for his very borderline defence against Charles Leclerc.

Hadjar picked up two penalties - one for moving under braking against Leclerc

Hadjar also received a stop-and-go penalty for not slowing down sufficiently under yellow flags, yet neither punishment affected his final finishing position.

Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen took third to claim his and the team’s first podium finish of what has been a difficult campaign so far.

“I think Isack did a very strong weekend,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies summarised to media including Crash.net.

“In fairness to him, he did a very strong first three races. He had a difficult weekend in Miami. I think this weekend he was on the right window straight away. I think speed was not the issue.

“The one-minute penalty is a bit too much. I think he got probably close to a one-minute penalty. But in terms of underlying speed, he was at the right level.”

Hadjar puzzled by pace loss

Hadjar was at a loss to explain his pace struggles

Hadjar revealed he apologised to Leclerc after the race for his aggressive defensive and accepted his penalties were “fair”.

“I don’t mind the penalties, I think they’re fair," said Hadjar when asked by Crash.net.

"I was too harsh and if anything it wasn't even on purpose. I just got confused where he was heading, so I didn't mean to send him in the grass obviously, he's a very clean driver, so I think I just apologised because it was a bit stupid."

On his weekend as a whole, Hadjar was left puzzled, saying: “I don’t really understand where the pace went, because I really felt like I was struggling a lot out there. Saturday felt great in the car, and now it’s very hard to drive.

“In a way, I felt like I was back in FP1, to be honest. Not pleasant to drive, and I need to really dig deep, because I felt comfortable for the first few laps, and then they opened the gap and I could not match their pace, whereas on Saturday, I was easily there. So no clue.”