Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar has received praise from Sky Sports F1 presenter Simon Lazenby for his assertive response during a confrontation with a fan following the Monaco Grand Prix.
The incident took place after Hadjar’s impressive sixth-place finish, marking his best result of the 2025 Formula 1 season so far. As the 20-year-old made his way across the circuit to fulfil media duties with the Sky Sports television crew, he became involved in a tense altercation with a fan, which was caught on camera.
The fan called out at the French-Algerian driver as they crossed paths by the entrance to the Red Bull Energy Station. Although it is not known what the fan said, Hadjar, visibly unhappy, followed the fan onto the Energy Station bridge. As the camera panned back to Lazenby and his co-hosts, Jenson Button and Naomi Schiff, the Racing Bulls driver composed himself and made his way over to go live on air.
Discussing the moment, which has been circling social media since, Lazenby explained during the Sky Sports F1 Show:
“Isack Hadjar, somebody said something to him, just to clear it up, as he was on his way to join us in presentation. And I like this about him, he’s feisty, he wasn’t going to let it go. He was just like ‘No, no, no, you’re not going on to the Energy Station after that.’ I don’t know what was said or anything like that but it clearly really got to him.”
Lazenby continued, as he discussed his “winner of the week”:
“He’s my winner. I really like him. I think he’s right up there, in with a shout of rookie of the season with the way he’s performing week in, week out. I love the fact that he takes no prisoners either, as we saw, he’s clearly one of these characters who is not going to mind getting his elbows out.”
Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images
Despite the heated moment, the young driver was pleased with his performance around the streets of Monte Carlo.
“Was a perfect weekend for me,” Hadjar commented to the media. ”Honestly yesterday I had a lot of fun, a lot more fun than today, but still the race was perfectly executed.
“Liam helped me massively. It was great teamwork and also he helped me, but he also got points so I’m really happy for him.”
He added: “Honestly, I’m really proud because after Friday confidence was quite low, FP3 was really tough. Didn’t have much confidence in the car and still somehow we managed to turn around really quickly and that was a great team effort so I’m really proud of my guys.”
