Hadjar explains “nightmare” seatbelt pain in Japanese GP qualifying

Pain from his seatbelts almost put Racing Bulls Formula 1 driver Isack Hadjar out in Q1 for the Japanese Grand Prix, before completing an “unbelievable” lap having overcome the discomfort.

Hadjar was heard over the radio complaining about an unspecified cockpit issue in FP3, and had reported in the first part of qualifying that the problem had reoccurred as he attempted to break into Q2.

It emerged that the French driver’s seatbelts were fastened too tight, but he was unable to relieve the pain in Q1 as he didn’t have time to get out of the car to reposition the belts. This was fixed in the interim, but only after he’d cleared the first qualifying hurdle.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Hadjar stated that he had to “pull through” the pain and was delighted with his effort to get into Q2 – which later begat a second F1 Q3 appearance and seventh on the grid for the Japanese GP.

“It was a nightmare,” Hadjar said. “I just pulled through; honestly, I’m really proud of me, the lap I did in Q1 with what I had, unbelievable.

“I realised straight in T3. I was like ‘OK, this is not going well’, and I nearly crashed actually. But I’m OK. [Between sessions] I had to jump out, and jump back in.”

When speaking to media, including Motorsport.com, Hadjar added: “In Q1, of course you don’t have time to get to jump back out, so I had to deal with it and pull through Q2. But when I came back in the car, put the belts back on, it was all good. It was just pain.”

Hadjar ultimately qualified in seventh, matching his result from the Chinese Grand Prix to outqualify new team-mate Liam Lawson and new Red Bull recruit Yuki Tsunoda.

The 2024 F2 title runner-up explained that he slowly started getting braver through the session, and felt confident enough in the car by Q3 to take more risks with his driving – which ultimately put him above Lewis Hamilton on the grid.

“I was still not happy with everything, every lap we made, we made a nice improvement with the balance, with the settings, and honestly the car just came alive, that final lap,” Hadjar said to Sky Sports F1. “It was fantastic, to be honest; I couldn’t have gotten much faster.

“You feel something different when you know it’s that final lap of Q3. You’re like, ‘I’m just gonna add a tiny bit more everywhere’ and you’re just hoping for it to stick.

“The amount of focus it takes is a lot, but yeah, I was at 100% and I was not previously, so I just managed to be brave enough to make an extra step.”

Photos from Japanese GP – Practice & Qualifying