FIA puts Hadjar on notice after Monza escape-road miss — “repeat offences” flagged
The glow from Zandvoort didn’t last long. Seven days after banking his first Formula 1 podium, Isack Hadjar’s Italian Grand Prix weekend veered off script with a formal warning from the FIA for failing to follow the race director’s instructions — for the second time in Monza.
The flashpoint came in final practice. Hadjar, in the Racing Bulls RB01, missed Turn 4 and cut to the right of the gravel at the second chicane without using the prescribed escape road at Turns 4/5. That shortcut is one of Monza’s most rigidly policed procedures, spelled out in the race director’s event notes.
Stewards called in Car 6, reviewed footage and team radio, and accepted Hadjar’s account that it happened at low speed on an out-lap after a left-front lock-up while he was warming tyres. With no cars nearby and no danger created, the panel opted against a sporting penalty — but they didn’t mince words about the pattern.
“Although this is the driver’s second offence of such nature during the weekend and repeat offences regularly warrant more severe penalties,” the stewards wrote, they would stop short of escalating this time. The sting in the tail: the team and driver were told a similar misstep before the chequered flag would “draw a more severe penalty.”
It capped a ragged Saturday for the rookie, who tumbled out in Q1 about an hour after the FP3 incident. Hadjar felt he had the pace to reach Q3 at Monza — and wasn’t shy about pointing the finger, branding Williams driver Carlos Sainz “super annoying” in the traffic games department as he tried to thread a clean lap.
There’s more context to the mood. Hadjar hinted he’ll be starting near the back regardless, with Racing Bulls expected to swap power unit components and trigger a grid penalty. Going into qualifying with that knowledge, he admitted, didn’t help the headspace.
“I hate going into qualifying knowing that anyway I’m starting last tomorrow, so as well the mindset was probably not great,” he said, adding that he “likes having pressure going into qualifying and this was just wrong.”
For a 20-year-old who’s been a sharp operator in wheel-to-wheel combat, this was a different kind of lesson. Monza’s escape-road rules are black-and-white, and stewards tend to lose patience quickly when the same name reappears on the docket. Two strikes in one weekend is the sort of thing that has drivers’ engineers underlining paragraphs in the event notes.
The irony, of course, is that Hadjar’s mistake didn’t gain him anything — it was slow, harmless, and self-confessed. But the FIA has drawn a hard line in recent seasons on procedural compliance, particularly at high-speed venues where even minor improvisations can turn messy. The warning is as much about setting the tone as it is about this single moment.
What does it mean for Sunday? If the engine change lands as expected, Hadjar’s job description will read simple: keep it tidy, stay out of the stewards’ office and slice forward where the car allows. The Racing Bulls has looked racier on Sundays than Saturdays at times this year, and Monza’s slipstream can be forgiving if you latch onto the right train.
There’s a quick reset needed after Zandvoort’s high and Monza’s nicks and cuts. Hadjar’s speed isn’t in doubt — but at this level, the small-print matters. The FIA has made sure he knows it.
