SHANGHAI (Reuters) – French Formula One rookie Isack Hadjar shrugged off negative comments from Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko and said he had felt the love of fans and fellow drivers after a tearful debut in Australia last weekend.
The 20-year-old also told reporters at the Chinese Grand Prix on Thursday that seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, his boyhood hero who is now racing for Ferrari, had sent a message of support.
Hamilton’s father, Anthony, was seen putting an arm around the Racing Bulls driver and consoling him in the paddock after Hadjar crashed his car on the formation lap on a wet and slippery track in Melbourne.
Marko, 81, was quoted telling Austria’s ORF television that the driver had “done a little bit of crying” and that the tears were “embarrassing”.
“You know, I found it embarrassing myself,” Hadjar said at the Shanghai circuit of a crash that came after he had made a solid qualifying debut with 11th place on the grid.
“And you know Helmut. I had him on the phone a day later and it’s all good,” he added. “I mean, I know him since a few years now. I know how he works. I think he said that he was speaking German, he was reinterpreted differently, you don’t know about the body language. I didn’t see the footage so I can’t say much.”
Marko, a former racer who was close to Red Bull’s late founder and fellow Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz and oversees the young driver programme, has a reputation for controversial and blunt comments.
Hadjar, last season’s runner-up in Formula Two, said the reaction from others had taken him by surprise.
“All the love from the fans and the people, I did not expect that at all when I binned it in the wall,” he said. “It was a nice moment sharing time with someone like Anthony, obviously the dad of my idol, so it was quite a special moment.”
Hadjar said he felt “quite a lot better” already on Monday, helped by China following on immediately after Australia and giving him a fresh focus.
“It’s one track I’ve been, since I was a kid, playing on PS3, PS4, with the controller,” he said of Shanghai. “So I know the track well, even though I’ve never driven here. I’m quite excited about it.”
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Gerry Doyle)
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