The Australian Grand Prix proved to be one of the most testing races a Formula 1 rookie could ask for and Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar was the first victim of the testing conditions.
Qualifying took place in scorching heat and Racing Bulls were one of the surprise packages with Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar both exceeding expectations.
Tsunoda started on the third row of the grid alongside Alex Albon while Hadjar was very unlucky to miss out on Q3.
However, after such a positive start to the weekend, it turned out to be a disaster for the Frenchman.
Hadjar was the first of four drivers taking part in their first full Formula 1 season to crash during the Australian Grand Prix.
He managed to navigate the first corner on the formation lap before losing control and spinning into the barriers and forcing an abandoned start.
Hadjar was consoled by Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony as he was walking through the paddock and looked incredibly upset about making such a crucial error.
Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson all suffered the same fate, with the Kiwi hitting exactly the same barrier after making an identical mistake.
Ted Kravitz was speaking on Ted’s Notebook after the race and noticed something quite worrying about Hadjar on the grid before his first Grand Prix came to a very swift end.
Isack Hadjar was looking ‘nervous’ on the grid before Australian Grand Prix crash
Analysing how every team and driver performed in Melbourne, Kravitz said: “What can you say about Isack Hadjar? You saw the emotion of Formula 1 and what it means to him.
“I’ve got to say Isack Hadjar was looking pretty nervous on the grid and then he had one of those sort of crashes that you can when you light up the rear wheels of a rear [wheel] drive car and it just swapped around and he went into the barrier.
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“He didn’t even make the start and was consoled by his hero’s dad, Anthony Hamilton. Isack’s hero of course if you watched our show in the beginning, his hero is Lewis Hamilton and Anthony Hamilton knowing that put his arm around Hadjar as he was crying his eyes out walking down the paddock.
“[He was] saying, don’t worry Isack, you’ve shown your speed this weekend, which is true he absolutely has, you’ll get over this, which I think he absolutely will.
Ted Kravitz says Yuki Tsunoda result was a ‘bigger disappointment’ than Isack Hadjar’s crash
While Hadjar’s crash was frustrating for Racing Bulls, the fact that Tsunoda didn’t score any points after such a strong showing will be heartbreaking for the Japanese driver.
Kravitz explained what went wrong for Tsunoda and said: “I think that the bigger disappointment was that Yuki Tsunoda didn’t score a point today having looked like he might pick up a very good result and has just handed points to Sauber in what’s going to be a constructors’ battle with them, probably all season long.
“Yuki, he did everything right, but he stayed out with Ferrari at the last shower of rain which was the wrong decision on the dry tyres, dropped down to P12 and that’s where he finished.
“They need to do a little bit better than that when points are on offer today because the likes of Williams have picked up a huge number of points.”
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Karun Chandhok heard some telling radio communications between Hadjar and Racing Bulls that underlined his frustration with his mistake.
However, Hadjar only has to wait a few days before the Chinese Grand Prix to correct his first mistake.
He’s increased the pressure on himself though and if he was nervous before Sunday’s race then that might be amped up even more at the next race.
