'It caught me off guard' - Isack Hadjar explains costly Monaco crash

Isack Hadjar conceded his oversteer-induced crash in FP1 at the Monaco Grand Prix caught the Red Bull driver "off guard". 

Red Bull appears to have pace enough to challenge Mercedes at the sixth round of the Formula 1 season, but the team was forced to complete a rapid repair job on Hadjar's car, after a heavy impact with the barriers caused significant damage. 

The Frenchman was among a number of drivers who suffered with a loose rear through the exit of the swimming pool section, but his slide exceeded that of his rivals, and sent him nose-first into the barriers, with the majority of the damage coming as his Red Bull swung around, causing the rear to take a secondary impact.

"It was going pretty ok," Hadjar said of his session to that point. "Actually, I think I was on some good laps and gaining confidence, and it's when I gained that confidence I had that moment. It realy caught me off guard. I really didn't expect to lose it there. 

"Also, it's not a crash you often see here, losing the rear like that, so I was surprised and it was definitely a tough one."

Hadjar "looking to fight Mercedes" in F1 Monaco GP

While Red Bull completed the sizeable repair work as quickly as possible, Hadjar was still forced to sit out the first 15 minutes of FP2. 

Despite this, he was able to register the sixth-fastest time of the session, albeit almost a second shy of team-mate Max Verstappen's best. 

"I tried to build the confidence back again," he said. "I really took no risks and just explored a bit more. It took me a minute to get there and there is still a lot to find, but it definitely felt decent towards the end, so let's see overnight what we can find for tomorrow."

With Ferrari ahead in both sessions as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton traded times - each topping a session but the latter ending the day as the fastest driver - Hadjar has his sights firmly on the championship-chasing Mercedes pair. 

Asked if Red Bull could battle Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend, he replied: "[I'm] definitely looking to fight the Mercedes. I think the top three is very strong and has very good momentum, so we need a very strong FP3 to get things working and close the gap. But hopefully we make the most of it and go into quali and keep the same ramp up."