Sky Sports F1 pundits in hysterics as star reveals he ‘almost crashed’ after bizarre injury in ‘sensitive area’
FORMULA ONE rookie sensation Isack Hadjar “almost crashed” after injuring a sensitive area of his body during qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Racing Bulls youngster repeatedly complained over the team radio that he was in agony after his seat belts twisted on Saturday morning.
Hadjar disrupted the team’s original plan by returning to the garage towards the end of Q1, as mechanics frantically tried to fix the problem.
The 20-year-old was sent back out while still in pain, but he somehow managed to find a lap quick enough to lift him out of the bottom five.
He then had his six-point safety harness re-positioned and went on to battle through to Q3 and pip Lewis Hamilton to seventh fastest ahead of Sunday’s race.
After qualifying, Hadjar revealed that he was so disorientated he nearly crashed the car – which would’ve been for the second time this season.
But he found little sympathy from the Sky Sports panel of pundits, as presenter Simon Lazenby said: “I’m just going to cross my legs here and ask you what was going on?”
And Hadjar told Sky: “It was a nightmare, man. Honestly. I’m really proud of myself and the lap I did in Q1, with what I had, unbelievable.”
“I realised straight in Turn 3. I was like ‘OK, this is not going well’, and I nearly crashed actually. But I’m OK.
The panel were laughing even harder when Naomi Schiff pointed out: “This was not an issue I ever dealt with when I was racing.”
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Pundit Jacques Villeneuve, who was already giggling, begged him not to go into “too much detail” on the live broadcast.
Drivers normally stay in the cockpit for the duration of qualifying, but drastic action was needed and Hadjar jumped out between sessions.
During Q1 Hadjar had made it clear just how painful the problem was as he spoke with race engineer Pierre Hamelin over the radio.
He said: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, f***ing hell. I mean, I just can’t focus, I have so much lap time. It’s just not driveable.”
The French-Algerian star later reported that the belts strapping him in were “twisted” which seemed to be the cause of his discomfort.
Cameras mounted on board his car showed him trying to adjust the belts while driving whenever he could,
TV footage then showed Racing Bulls staff trying to resolve the issue in the garage.
On several occasions he winced and tightly closed his eyes because of the pain he was feeling as his mechanics tried to sort out his seat belt.
Hadjar fears were understandable after he crashed on his F1 debut during a formation lap at the Australian GP – leaving him in tears.
Japanese GP Qualifying: Top 10
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Lando Norris, McLaren
3) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
5) George Russell, Mercedes
6) Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
7) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
8) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
9) Alex Albon, Williams
10) Oliver Bearman, Haas
Meanwhile, Hadjar’s newly returning team-mate Liam Lawson – who was dropped by Red Bull last week – qualified in 14th.
But he ironically beat his replacement driver Yuki Tsunoda, who drove the RB21 for the first time ever at his home GP.
Meanwhile, Red Bull star Max Verstappen produced a major upset after snatching pole position from McLaren‘s Lando Norris.
Verstappen delivered a time of 1:26.983 – the fastest lap in Suzuka history.
The Dutchman took a fourth successive Suzuka pole as the top three were left separated by less than half a tenth of a second.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “That was one of his best laps in qualifying ever. We did not expect that. Outstanding.
“Max extracted every ounce of performance. He got the most out of it today and getting that pole position was completely against the form we had been seeing. A big lift for the team.”