Isack Hadjar rejects Kimi Antonelli apology in untelevised Chinese GP moment
Isack Hadjar was not having Kimi Antonelli's apology in China
Kimi Antonelli extended a hand in parc fermé to Isack Hadjar, but the Red Bull driver could be seen waving it away.
That untelevised encounter came after the pair had collided during the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint, a 100km race won by Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate, George Russell.
Kimi Antonelli apology rejected by Isack Hadjar after Sprint collision
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Antonelli launched from second on the grid, but got bogged down at the start and found himself losing ground. His Sprint worsened on Lap 2, when he made contact with Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull.
Antonelli received a 10-second penalty for that collision with Hadjar, and ultimately finished fifth. Hadjar was 15th.
Footage from Hadjar’s onboard camera has since revealed the moment that Antonelli – having parked up his Mercedes in parc fermé after the Sprint – came over to Hadjar, who was still in the cockpit of his Red Bull RB22.
Antonelli could be seen extending an apologetic hand to Hadjar, who haves his in rejection, before exiting the car.
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Max Verstappen calls Red Bull RB22 ‘completely undriveable’ after qualifying P8 in China
Hadjar’s Saturday in Shanghai remained rather frustrating as qualifying came around.
While his Q3 lap was only a tenth slower than Max Verstappen’s, an achievement in its own right, it was good enough for only P9 on the grid, with Verstappen eighth.
With a Mercedes once more on pole, this time Antonelli, Hadjar was 1.057 seconds short of the Italian’s pole time. He had trailed Melbourne’s polesitter George Russell by eighth tenths.
“No, it’s not different. I think we were eight tenths off in Melbourne, on a smaller track.” Hadjar stated, as he admitted that a longer track like Shanghai, therefore, “just exposes us a bit more”.
“So the lap time loss is bigger. I think we have the same performance.”
Verstappen offered a blunt assessment of the Red Bull RB22 post-qualifying, calling the car “completely undriveable”.
Hadjar says progress is coming, but for now, this is all the performance which Red Bull has.
“We’re on the edge of what we have as a package,” said Hadjar. “So we suffer for now and then we’re going to make progress anyway through the season, so, it’s okay.
“We’re just grip limited now. We just need more load everywhere.”
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