Hadjar leaves Monza ‘proud’ after converting pit lane start to P10 for Racing Bulls

Isack Hadjar left the Italian Grand Prix feeling “proud” of the point he managed to score for his team, after starting the race at Monza from the pit lane. P10 might seem a far cry from the podium of Zandvoort, but it was every bit as hard-fought for the rookie who was up against it after a tricky Qualifying.

The Racing Bulls car looked good throughout practice, leading to high hopes of a strong Qualifying. But instead it all went wrong for the team, with Liam Lawson making a mistake to wind up 20th while Hadjar got stuck in traffic and also exited in Q1.

But from there, the team fitted his car with a new power unit – triggering a pit lane start. They also rolled the dice and started the Frenchman on the hard compound tyre, which gave him an offset strategy.

He was able to utilise some free air to his advantage, gaining enough time on the medium-shod starters to leapfrog many of them when he did pit. That, combined with keeping out of trouble, saw Hadjar score the final point on offer.

“Very happy,” he said when asked after the race how he felt. “It is the best I could have done today so now I can go home proud.

“To be honest the car has been okay on Friday and then on Saturday really picked up the pace, we just had a terrible Q1 where we didn’t show our potential.

"I knew starting from the back of the grid I would be very fast because I knew what I had underneath me. And it really paid off, strategy was good. I had fun!”

After a tricky first couple of races of his F1 career, Hadjar found his stride and scored in four of five Grands Prix earlier in the season. But then he again had a run of bad form, bad luck and the car not suiting the tracks – the Frenchman unable to score in any of the Grands Prix between Canada and Hungary.

But since the summer break he has put in two excellent drives – his podium in Zandvoort obviously special, and then the recovery at Monza.

“Before the race, I thought we’d have got stuck in a DRS train, but instead we made the most of the hard tyres in free air,” he explained.

“Overall, it was a fun race as it felt like we did Quali laps one after the other without tyre degradation. After a frustrating Qualifying and a race start from the pit lane, I think we really deserve this point as a team. Looking forward to getting back to racing in Baku in two weeks' time.”

Racing Bulls remain seventh in the Teams' Championship, now just one point behind Aston Martin.