F1 driver braced for huge Italian GP penalty with FIA announcement imminent

From the podium at Zandvoort to the pit lane at Monza, Isack Hadjar revealed his disappointment over a pending grid penalty for a planned engine change on his Racing Bulls that he laments will make it difficult to score points.

Last weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix, Hadjar was one of the stars of the show as he raced his way onto the podium with a third-placed finish.

Podium to pit lane: Isack Hadjar’s huge disappointment

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

This weekend at Monza, he concedes he’s going to struggle to even score a point.

The Frenchman is facing a pit lane start due to a planned engine change, with Racing Bulls “changing everything” in his hybrid power unit.

Speaking with PlanetF1.com and other media outlets after qualifying, Hadjar revealed he went into Saturday’s running aware that a penalty, which is yet to be confirmed by the FIA, was on the horizon.

“I hate going into qualifying knowing that anyway I’m starting last,” he said, “so as well the mindset was probably not great.

“I like having pressure going into qualifying and this was just wrong.”

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His mindset, though, was helped by Carlos Sainz’s actions with the Williams driver pushing behind Hadjar on their out-laps with the Racing Bulls driver fuming at Sainz for “playing around, trying to make my life difficult”.

Hadjar suffered his first Q1 elimination, down in 16th place but is expected to start the grand prix from the pit lane due to his engine penalty.

Although he reckons his VCARB 02’s pace “is good”, he doubts he’ll be able to work his way into the points.

“If I’m starting in the top 10, we have a shot at points, but we can’t overtake 10 cars on pure pace and with a good strategy,” he added. “It doesn’t happen.”

Pierre Gasly is also facing a grid penalty after Alpine failed to cover his car two hours after the end of Q3, with the offence referred to the stewards.

The provisional starting grid for the Italian Grand Prix

F1 driver braced for huge Italian GP penalty with FIA announcement imminent

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