Isack Hadjar Apologizes to Charles Leclerc, Admits F1 Canada Penalties Were 'Fair'

Isack Hadjar was penalized twice by the steward at the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Isack Hadjar has apologized to Charles Leclerc and admitted that the two penalties he received at the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix were 'fair'.

Hadjar achieved his best result of the season, finishing in fifth place - just two positions behind his Red Bull team-mate, Max Verstappen.

However, the gap between the two was over 71 seconds after the French driver was penalized 10 seconds for excessive movement while defending, which almost caused an incident with Charles Leclerc on the back straight.

After the penalty, Hadjar received a 10-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow down under a double yellow flag, a signal that indicates drivers should slow down and prepare to stop.

"I don't complain about the penalty, I think it's fair," Hadjar said when questioned by Crash.net.

"Look, I was completely unaware of my speed, because I was struggling so much on the track. Saturday was great in the car, and now it's extremely difficult to drive."

He added: "Honestly, I felt like I was back in FP1. Unpleasant to drive, and I had to work really hard, because I felt comfortable in the first few laps, and then they widened the gap and I couldn't match their speed, while on Saturday, I easily matched them. So, I don't know what to do."

When asked if he was only struggling with a lack of speed on the straights, similar to the problem faced by Verstappen in the Sprint Race, Hadjar said: "I hope the problem is just with the speed on the straights, because that's the whole problem."

Addressing the incident with Leclerc, where Hadjar made three separate maneuvers on the track - two to defend and one to take the racing line at the final turn - the Red Bull driver acknowledged his mistake and apologized to his rival, citing 'confusion' as the cause for the near-miss that could have ended the race.

"I was too harsh," he said. "If I did it, it wasn't even intentional. I was just confused as to which way to go. So, I didn't intend to take him out, of course."

"He's a very clean driver, so I just apologize for being a bit silly."