Isack Hadjar revealed that Lewis Hamilton sent him a message of support following the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and downplayed Helmut Marko’s criticisms.
After a solid start to his maiden GP weekend, Hadjar lined up 11th on the grid at the Albert Park Circuit for Racing Bulls only for his good work to be undone at Turn 2 on the formation lap.
Misreading the conditions, Hadjar lost control of his VCARB 02 and ended up in the wall.
Distraught and tearful, Hadjar retreated to the paddock and Marko, the man largely responsible for guiding the Red Bull junior graduate into F1, told television broadcaster ORF, “That was a bit embarrassing.”
Hadjar revealed he and Marko are on good terms, however, citing the Austrian’s remarks was likely lost in translation.
“I found [the incident] embarrassing myself,” Hadjar said candidly on Thursday.
“Helmut, I had him on the phone a day later, and it’s all good. I’ve known him for a few years now. I know how he works.
“Also, another point, I think he said that he was speaking German, he was reinterpreted differently.
“I didn’t know about the body language. I didn’t see the footage, so I can’t say much. But apart from that, I see all the love from the fans and the people. I did not expect that at all when I binned it in the wall, so that was nice.”
Hamiltons show support to Hadjar
Hadjar was embraced by Anthony Hamilton on his way back to the paddock in Melbourne last weekend, who said to Sky Sports “I just felt terrible for him, so I thought ‘you know what, I need to go and tell this kid keep your head high, walk tall, you’re gonna come back’.”
Hadjar sees Hamilton as his idol and to receive support from the seven-time champion’s father was “special.”
Not only that, but the Ferrari driver himself reached out to the young rookie.
“[My moment] reminded me of Lewis actually parking the car at the pit entry in Shanghai,” Hadjar said.
“It was a nice moment sharing time with someone like Anthony, obviously the dad of my idol, so it was quite a special moment and indeed, Lewis sent me a message later that day.
“Really classy guys.”
Hadjar dusting himself off for fresh Shanghai challenge
Despite the setback in Australia, Hadjar has quickly dusted himself off, thankful for an opportunity to make amends so soon in Shanghai.
“I would say on Monday already I felt quite a lot better, especially knowing that it’s a back-to-back weekend,” he revealed.
“I’ve got to run it back quite early, not having a month to dwell on it.”
Moreover, Hadjar was able to take several positives from his first weekend as a full-time F1 driver.
“I would say that we were surprisingly faster than we thought,” he said.
“Looking at Bahrain, it’s hard to really understand where you’re at in the midfield. You don’t know how much everyone is hiding or not.
“Going into Melbourne, the car was really good. Straight from FP1, I had a really nice feeling with the car. I was quite comfortable.
“I was as close to Yuki [Tsunoda] as I wanted to be. I think there was a lot of positives in terms of pure performance.”
With that, Hadjar has demonstrated the mental resilience to give himself a strong foundation heading into the Chinese GP.
READ MORE – Helmut Marko brands Isack Hadjar’s tearful Australian GP exit ‘embarrassing’
