Three races lost to a wrist that would not settle
Zandvoort, Monza, Barcelona. Isack Hadjar watched all three from the outside, and the reason was a left wrist that kept flaring up every time the vibrations of an F1 car went through it. Red Bull confirmed on Tuesday that the French driver is back in the car for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The team never rushed it. Pushing a driver back into a cockpit with a joint that has not fully knitted is how a three-race absence turns into a six-race one, and Red Bull were not interested in finding out.
Try it for $0.99.
Lawson’s audition ends after three weekends
Liam Lawson goes back to Racing Bulls. The New Zealander filled the seat next to Max Verstappen while Hadjar recovered, and he never really shook off the stand-in label in the time he had. Three weekends is not much of a window to change anyone’s mind.
Hadjar has more riding on Baku than a return date. He sat eighth in the drivers’ standings when the injury hit, the best position he has held since arriving in the sport. The midfield being what it is this year, a handful of points is all that separates sixth place from tenth, so every weekend he missed cost him ground he now has to win back.
A street circuit that suits the way he drives
The calendar has been kind. Baku punishes drivers who lean on the engine and rewards the ones who place the car within centimetres of the wall lap after lap, and that precision was exactly what Hadjar had been building a reputation on before the break.
Whether the wrist holds up over a race distance is another matter entirely. Simulator laps do not load a joint the way 300 kilometres of concrete-lined street racing does. Sunday afternoon will answer that one.
Discover the rest of the F1 news on our mathodds website and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply