Rookie crashes on FORMATION LAP of Australian GP before bursting into tears and causing delay to start

THE FORMULA ONE season opener in Australia was hit by chaos before the race even started as rookie Isack Hadjar spun out on the formation lap.

The 20-year-old, making his F1 debut for Racing Bulls this weekend, burst into tears after spinning out on his way to the grid as he struggled for grip.

Hadjar ended up spinning and binning his car into the wall, seeing his raceday end before it had even begun after a strong qualifying session on Saturday which had seen him place P11.

The French-Algerian racer was visibly distraught and burst into tears on his way back to the pitlane.

Hadjar, who is known to be a Lewis Hamilton superfan, was consoled by the Ferrari driver’s dad following the unfortunate incident.

Revealing what Anthony Hamilton said to him afterwards, he expained: “Just keep your head high. I think he knows what tough times are and I think he sees a rookie putting it in the wall on not even lap one, he knows how tough it feels.

“He came to comfort me, I think it was a really nice gesture from him. But nevertheless it feels really hard and I feel really sorry for the team.”

The crash caused a race start delay of 15 minutes after an aborted start.

When the Albert Park race did eventually get underway, two more drivers crashed out early on.

Alpine rookie and home star Jack Doohan spun out at Turn 6 before crashing heavily into the wall and bringing the safety car out.

Last year’s race winner, Carlos Sainz, then spun out under the safety car to see three cars out of the race before a full lap had been completed under green flag conditions.

The tricky wet conditions meant a full racing lap was not completed until lap nine of the Grand Prix.

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There were early pitstops from three stars – Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon, as they changed to a new set of intermediate tyres.

Max Verstappen enjoyed a strong start in the race as he overtook Oscar Piastri and brought himself right up on the heels of race leader Lando Norris, but was unable to make a move before Piastri took the position back.

Meanwhile, Hamilton – making his debut for his new team – had a more low-key start by remaining P8.

By the end of the race SIX drivers had not survived the gauntlet as the changeable and slippery conditions sparked chaos across the grid.

Norris won by the skin of his teeth ahead of Verstappen while Hamilton was left to rue a huge strategy blunder from his team.

The seven-time world champion had briefly led the race when Verstappen had to pit from the lead, but Norris – by now back on intermediates after going off track – took the lead back.

The subsequent pit stop for Ferrari left Hamilton down in P9 before he ended in P10, managing to overtake Pierre Gasly but losing positions to Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.

And he was fuming with his new race engineer – launching an X-rated blast down the team radio after learning how they had blown their chance of a podium.

Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk