Red Bull star’s unimaginable response saves him from ‘scary’ crash at Monaco GP
Red Bull junior team star Isack Hadjar’s lightning-fast reflexes saved the day during a Formula Two qualifying round in Monaco.
The French racer was taken by surprise when he came across the slow-moving Rodin Motorsport car of Ritomo Miyata in the tunnel, forcing him to take evasive action, on Friday. Miyata was grappling with a power unit problem that made him abandon his flying lap and reduced his speed to a snail’s pace as he navigated the tunnel.
With no power at his disposal, the Japanese driver had no choice but to stick to the right-hand side barrier and hope that no oncoming cars would reach him in time. Unfortunately for the reigning Super Formula and Super GT champion, he had the charging Campos Racing machine of Hadjar hot on his heels.
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The French driver zoomed into the tunnel at full throttle and with Miyata out of sight around the blind corner, headed straight towards his competitor. As he sped through the tunnel, Miyata’s car came into view and Hadjar swerved his Campos to the left, narrowly missing the Rodin Motorsport driver at the last moment.
Despite the change in direction needed to avoid a collision, he managed to steer clear of the outer wall as well, keeping his car away from the wall before reaching the Nouvelle Chicane. The incident was a hair-raising one. Had Hadjar’s reaction time been a fraction slower, the 19-year-old would have collided with the left-rear tyre of Miyata’s car, potentially sending him flying into the tunnel’s outer wall.
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(Image: (Image: Sky Sports F1))
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Luckily, the Red Bull junior driver managed to dodge what could have been disastrous consequences. For Miyata, his session was essentially finished. The 24-year-old’s Mecachrome power unit continued to play up after he returned to the pits, effectively ending his chances of scoring points on Monte Carlo’s streets.
Speaking for Sky Sports, F1 legend Jenson Button marvelled at Hadjar’s skills. He said: “You’re in a tunnel, it’s dark, it’s not easy at all… it’s so, so scary, this could have been a really big one, so great reactions by him.”
Once Hadjar had recovered from the shock of his near-miss, the French lad pulled himself together and delivered an impressive lap, securing himself a P3 starting grid position for Sunday’s main race, behind Richard Verschoor and Victor Martins.
The young gun, who is highly regarded by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, has triumphed in each of the last two main races in F2 and is just nine points adrift of championship leader and Sauber junior hopeful, Zane Maloney. With a solid qualifying result in Monaco, Hadjar has the opportunity to finish the weekend at the top of the leaderboard.
