“I had a s***** lap” – Isack Hadjar upset despite 0.028s gap to Max Verstappen

Isack Hadjar got close to Max Verstappen in Montreal qualifying, but believes he could have done much better

Red Bull Formula 1 driver Isack Hadjar labelled his qualifying lap as “shitty” at the Canadian Grand Prix, despite a better performance than usual.

Hadjar got close to outqualifying Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen for the first time since the Japanese GP, with a 0.028s deficit, and seventh place marked his best result since the season opener in Melbourne.

But the French sophomore previously set the fastest lap in Q2, a whopping 0.504s faster than a struggling Verstappen, so this outcome was deeply disappointing to him.

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“I had a shitty lap,” Hadjar, who improved by just 0.040s into Q3, told Canal+. “I’m very upset, because I did a very good job in Q1 and Q2, and then I didn’t do a good Q3.

“I’m a bit gutted, because we really had a good car and it was a good opportunity. And I ended up seventh.

“The team did a great job, we found what was wrong. It’s good, but then you need to put everything together, and I didn’t.”

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Hadjar explained he “overdrove a bit”, but he still ended up just 0.357s away from pole position – the smallest deficit he has experienced in his career so far.

“That’s why I’m unhappy,” he lamented. “We did a good job. Then, we know that we’re quite good on tracks like this, Monaco should be alright too, but we have big problems to fix.”

However, speaking to written media, Hadjar displayed a slightly more positive mood – especially after a tricky Miami weekend.

“I feel a lot better in the car,” he said. “I'm not getting destroyed in every corner, and it feels more normal, more like the first three rounds.

“Miami, for me, in the bin, and now it's back to more normal stuff. Happy with the car, happy with the set-up changes we did from yesterday to qualifying. We got a lot closer to pole position, so we're doing good.”

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording