Isack Hadjar delivered in Montreal his best finish yet for Red Bull, but the Frenchman left the Canadian Grand Prix admitting one thing very clearly: his defensive move in the race on Charles Leclerc very nearly crossed the line from aggressive racing into total disaster.
Hadjar finished fifth after a bruising afternoon packed with penalties, frustration, and one heart-stopping moment that nearly sent Leclerc on to the grass at the end of the back straight.
The Ferrari driver somehow avoided heavy contact, eventually muscling his way through, but the stewards were unimpressed – slapping Hadjar with a 10-second penalty for the incident. Remarkably, even that failed to cost the Red Bull junior his top-five finish.
And afterward, Hadjar was brutally honest about the incident.
"I was too harsh and if anything it wasn't even on purpose," he explained after the race.
"I just got confused where he was heading, so I didn't mean to send him in the grass obviously, he's a very clean driver, so I think I just apologised because it was a bit stupid."
Leclerc: the penalty was deserved
For a split second, it looked like Montreal might witness another major flashpoint between Ferrari and Red Bull machinery.
Leclerc had to react instantly as Hadjar squeezed him toward the edge of the circuit at high speed, with the Ferrari driver later admitting the moment was uncomfortably close to ending badly.
Still, the Monegasque star chose perspective over outrage.
"I think the penalty is deserved," he told Canal+. "It was a bit too close.
“Isack apologised, but these things happen. It’s hard to judge with these cars because there’s such a difference in speed that, in the mirrors, you don’t realise how little you can actually see.
"I think he saw me coming and realised he went a little too far. But it happens, and it’s happened to me in the past too. So that’s how it is – it was close.
"I’m happy to have finished the race. And quite honestly, it’s a miracle to finish fourth on a weekend as bad as this one. Because for my part, I never had a feel for the car at any point over the weekend.
“Lewis was, of course, exceptional all weekend long, but I was struggling. I had a really, really hard time getting the tyres up to temperature."
Leclerc’s calm response helped cool what could easily have become one of the most controversial moments of the race weekend.
‘No clue’ where the pace disappeared
Hadjar’s afternoon, however, was chaotic from start to finish.
Alongside the clash with Leclerc, the rookie also picked up a stop-and-go penalty for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags – yet somehow still managed to secure his strongest result in Formula 1.
The bizarre part? Hadjar walked away deeply dissatisfied with his own performance despite the headline result.
“I don't really understand where the pace went, because I really felt like I was struggling a lot out there. Yesterday I felt great in the car and now it's very hard to drive,” he said.
Read also: F1i Driver Ratings for the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix“In a way, I felt like I was back in FP1, to be honest. Not pleasant to drive and I needed to really dig deep because I felt comfortable in the first few laps and then they opened the gap and I couldn't match the pace, whereas yesterday I was easily there, so no clue.
“There was zero degradation today. It was very consistent, easy to keep the lap times going and on my side I felt like even when they switched on I still didn't have the pace. I have no clue.”
So while the results sheet will show a career-best fifth place for Hadjar, the reality underneath was far messier: penalties, near-contact with a Ferrari, and a rookie driver openly admitting he spent much of the race hanging on rather than charging forward.
In Montreal, Hadjar survived the chaos – barely.
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