Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar is pleased to finish third at a “difficult” 2026 Monaco Grand Prix.
Hadjar recovered from a FP1 crash and a series of power unit and first gear issues during the race to finish third after he benefitted from a time penalty for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly applied post race.
The 21 year-old Frenchman consequently was proud of his result given that his teammate, Max Verstappen had suffered a power unit failure at the start of the race, which threatened to too curtail his own race given the issues that he encountered.
“It’s been an outstanding result and weekend considering how it started in FP1! The race was difficult and I had to dig very deep.
“We got off to a clean start and were managing our race, and then within the first 10 to 15 laps I started having big drivability issues. If there’s one track you don’t want that, it’s here, so that was incredibly challenging having to cover 60 laps.”
The race was red flagged on lap 68 after a breakup of asphalt at Anthony Gomes caused Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to crash out in the space of six laps, which led to fears of the race being aborted with ten laps left but Hadjar still lacked power on the restart.
“There was then uncertainty about what was going to happen with the red flag and you need to get your head back again in focus. Even towards the end, I was still lacking power on the restart. It really was the longest race of my life but now it’s finished we got the podium.”
Hadjar however were reported to stewards for allegedly failing to stay within ten car lengths during the second safety car period after Leclerc’s crash, but was cleared of any wrong-doing as were Red Bull for considering a change of part under the red flag which was aborted in the end.
Nevertheless Hadjar felt before the stewards’ decision to clear him that the fate of whether he kept his first podium as a Red Bull driver was “completely out of my control”, having celebrated his podium which will always be a memory for him even if he subsequently received a penalty.
“I celebrated and had my podium and I will always have that. My moment with the lads. Huge thank you to the Team, I trust these guys. Whatever happens, the emotions on the podium have already happened and I am proud of the Team.”