Oliver Bearman was the only driver who retired from the Budapest F1 race because his Haas had floor damage, but one of his rivals was lucky to finish too after injuring his hand
Isack Hadjar has revealed how he drove almost the entire Hungarian Grand Prix with searing pain in his hand. The only indication that the live Sky Sports broadcast gave of his injury was when a radio message was played of the Frenchman reporting that his hand was “f****d”.
That was played out several laps into Sunday’s Budapest race. But the incident which caused the pain actually happened on the very first lap, as cars jostled for position and Hadjar ended up being the unfortunate victim of a freak accident.
Oliver Bearman had kicked up some gravel onto the track with his Haas on the exit of turn 12. And at least one stone struck Hadjar’s hand as he turned his Racing Bulls machine, which would have meant his hand was raised up into the air and exposed above his cockpit.
It was clear from how he reported it to his team that he was in a significant amount of pain, raising worries that he might not be able to finish the Grand Prix. “Mate, my hand is f****d. I took all the gravel, all the gravel, man,” he said with a concerned tone.
Fortunately, he was able to deal with the discomfort and finish the race. Not that he received any reward for doing so, as the 20-year-old Formula 1 rookie crossed the line 11th and so the highest-placed of all the drivers who did not score a point.
Most drivers experienced being hit by some form of debris at some point in their careers, but this was a new one for Hadjar in terms of the significance of the impact. He explained after the race: “Yeah I had [experienced being hit before], but not this amount, and not at this speed. It was driveable, and good focus.”
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That gravel trap on the exit of turn 12 is there to help enforce track limits and act as a deterrent to stop drivers approaching that corner with too much speed. But all weekend there were cars dipping wheels into the gravel, which brought plenty of stones onto the racing surface.
In Hajdar’s view, the gravel trap there is doing more harm than good and he called for organisers of the race to consider getting ditching the hazard. He said: “I hope they get rid of this, because it’s dumb. It’s a bit sore, a bit blue, hurting again.”
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While Hadjar was unable to score, his team-mate Liam Lawson did at least make sure Racing Bulls did not leave Budapest empty-handed. The Kiwi continued his improved run of form by finishing eighth, his third points-scoring result in his last four Grands Prix.
That result puts Lawson on 20 points for the season so far, just two behind Hadjar in the standings. The Frenchman, though, can be pleased with his debut F1 season so far despite a rocky run of late which has seen him score just one point over the last five events.