The Australian Grand Prix provided an incredibly eventful start to the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Although six F1 drivers were beginning their first full seasons in the sport, Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar is still waiting to take part in his first Grand Prix start.
Formula 1 has seen the full range of weather that Melbourne has to offer during the Australian Grand Prix weekend with scorching heat in qualifying followed by torrential rain on Sunday.
Unfortunately for Hadjar, his first outing in a Formula 1 car in wet weather conditions lasted during two corners.
The Frenchman spun into the wall on the formation lap and destroyed the rear of the car.
Karun Chandhok was speaking on Sky Sports F1 (16/3 4:06 am) during the race and reported on what he heard from Hadjar’s radio messages that highlight just how devastated the youngster was that his F1 career has got off to the worst possible start.
Isack Hadjar’s telling radio silence after Australian Grand Prix formation lap crash
Only 18 drivers were on the grid for the start of the race in Australia, with two fellow full-season rookies – Oliver Bearman and Liam Lawson – starting from the pit lane.
However, there was an aborted start once Hadjar’s Racing Bulls car found the barrier.
Chandhok was listening to the Frenchman’s radio communications and reported: “I’ve just been listening on the radio tellingly when Isack Hadjar crashed.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls 2025 F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know
“There was lots of communication from the pit wall with him, but nothing going back.
“You could see as Martin [Brundle] was saying, he’s obviously absolutely devastated with what’s happened.
“The team were trying to talk him through, whether he could restart or not, but yeah, nothing coming back from him.”
Martin Brundle added to Chandhok’s message as the camera panned to Hadjar with his head in his hands and said: “There is one very, very distraught young man. That’s sad. Nobody wants to see that.”
💔
Isack comes off the track on the formation lap and is out of this #AusGP. He’ll come back fighting in China next week 🥊#VCARB #F1
— Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team (@visacashapprb) March 16, 2025
Isack Hadjar brings a positive start to his F1 career to a brutal end in Australia
All eyes were on how each rookie was going to fare at Albert Park although Lawson was the only driver never to race in Melbourne before.
While all of the hype was around Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes and Oliver Bearman’s start to life at Haas, Hadjar was going quietly under the radar and impressing many onlookers.
Bearman crashed twice during practice and Doohan found the barriers before the end of lap one and Hadjar should take some comfort from the fact that he wasn’t the only driver to struggle.
Even the much more experienced Carlos Sainz crashed under the safety car to bring his Williams debut to a premature end.
READ MORE: All to know about Racing Bulls from team principal to Red Bull affiliation
Hadjar qualified ahead of every other new driver and was unlucky to miss out on Q3.
Red Bull believe Hadjar could be faster than Yuki Tsunoda but the early signs suggest the Japanese driver still has an advantage.
Hadjar will be raring to go again and doesn’t have to wait long until his next race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
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