At the Japanese Grand Prix, Isack Hadjar had a very strong weekend, finishing eighth behind Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
The race’s most unexpected statistic is that Hamilton’s average speed difference with the Racing Bulls driver was barely a tenth of a second per lap.
Following his error prior to the Australian Grand Prix race, Hadjar has risen to the occasion and established himself as Kimi Antonelli’s most impressive rookie.
Not only did the Racing Bulls driver exceed Yuki Tsunoda in his new journey with Red Bull, but he also outperformed his new teammate Liam Lawson in his second stint with the Faenza-based team, defeating Tsunoda in both qualifying and the race in China and Japan. Additionally, he defeated Hamilton, his greatest inspiration, for the first time.
Hadjar had a really good race in Suzuka as well. His performance, along with that of the VCARB 02, was noteworthy, as the team established itself in Japan as the fifth force on the grid, only below the top four teams. However, it is possible that many fans were unaware of it.
In fact, Hadjar’s speed was on level with Hamilton’s in the Ferrari. Hadjar finished the race closer to Hamilton (+7.952s) than Hamilton did to Antonelli in P6 (+10.511s), and the seven-time world champion was barely a tenth of a second faster than the Frenchman on average each lap.
Hadjar was passed by Hamilton at the beginning of lap 6. In Suzuka, the Ferrari driver began the race on the hard tire in an attempt to pass George Russell and Antonelli’s Mercedes, but the British driver was unable to cause any problems for the drivers from his previous team.
Hadjar, on the other hand, managed to keep a comfortable pace throughout the first stint, staying within three seconds behind Lewis and a similar distance from Alex Albon in the Williams. operating error-free and without hiccups.
Before making his pit stop, Hamilton was able to race in clean air in second place thanks to Ferrari’s strategy of starting on the hard tire. Hadjar had to pass Carlos Sainz and his colleague Liam Lawson on the circuit after stopping earlier due to traffic.
He rejoined ahead of the French driver by eight seconds after Hamilton pitted. Hadjar lost over 4 seconds because of traffic, but it wasn’t a strategic error because he had to cover from Albon’s undercut attack from behind.
Hadjar lost three seconds to the British driver in the first ten laps of the second stint because he was unable to keep up with Hamilton’s pace on the medium due to the hard tire.
However, Hadjar recovered nearly all of the distance lost in terms of pure race pace in the second part of the stint as Hamilton’s medium tire started to drop out. This does not include the time lost due to traffic when he covered Albon’s attack.
Racing Bulls has surpassed Sauber for eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship after Hadjar’s four points in Japan.
After two disappointing races in Australia and China, the Faenza-based team is trying to progressively close the gap with teams like Williams and Haas. They also have to cope with a new adaptation process after Red Bull’s decision to switch drivers between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson had an indirect impact on them.
