Isack Hadjar insists he must “be smart” during Sunday’s race after securing a stunning fourth-place in qualifying for the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix, following what he described as his “best lap” of the 2025 season.
The French rookie has been one of the standout debutants of the 2025 season, and he continued his impressive form with a stunning qualifying performance at Zandvoort.
Hadjar will line up on the second row for the Dutch GP, just behind home favourite Max Verstappen, but for much of the session, it seemed like his Racing Bulls team-mate, Liam Lawson, would take the higher spot.
Lawson led Hadjar in the early stages, with both drivers making it to Q3 in what was a positive day for the sister Red Bull team. The Kiwi had the edge over Hadjar in both Q1 and Q2.
As the final session unfolded, it appeared Lawson would start ahead of Hadjar, after improving to seventh on his last run while Hadjar was further back.
But the 20-year-old produced a sensational final lap, charging into fourth with a 1:09.208s as the clock ticked down. Reflecting on his performance, Hadjar attributed his confidence to the car, explaining that its set-up played a crucial role in his result.
“To be honest, the car [was] exactly like I wanted,” he told media including Motorsport Week. “It was responding really well, especially on that final lap. Probably, we got a bit lucky with the wind gusts.
“I don’t know, we need to look at the data. But yeah, I pulled an amazing lap and it sticks because the car was great.”
Hadjar could not hide his excitement over the team radio, and afterwards he expanded on his emotions: “It’s probably the best lap I’ve had this year because it’s a very hard track, really demanding.
“And I put it all on the line, especially that final corner. I thought I did pretty well there to actually gain one more tenth. And yeah, that was special.”
Hadjar eyes smart strategy as he prepares to defend best qualifying result
When discussing his strategy for tomorrow’s race with Verstappen starting ahead, Hadjar was realistic about the challenge.
“I mean, he’s starting on the clean side of the grid,” he said. “He has great starts usually. So actually, I expect him to probably overtake a car ahead, if anything.”
On the topic of race pace, Hadjar remains confident despite limited experience: “I haven’t experienced it, obviously. We limited mileage yesterday, but looking at Liam, he was pretty fast yesterday. The car is healthy. It’s fast on one lap, so it will be fast on many more laps.”
Despite missing some practice time, Hadjar didn’t see it as a significant hurdle. But with some faster cars starting behind him, Hadjar was pragmatic about the potential challenge of defending his position.
“To be fair, I don’t think it’s really difficult to overtake here,” he added. “Looking at how long the straight is and the DRS zone starts very early, so if they have more pace, they will overtake. And that’s it. We need to accept it and be smart.”
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