Isack Hadjar battles a difficult car to secure fifth in Canada

It was a chaotic Sunday for Isack Hadjar in Montreal. Despite finishing fifth—his best result of the season for Red Bull—the 21-year-old was left grappling with a car he described as "hard to drive" and a series of mistakes that cost him dearly.

The race looked promising after a clean start on soft tyres, allowing Hadjar to leapfrog Ferrari's Charles Leclerc during the pit stops. However, the rhythm fell apart shortly after. A defensive maneuver against Leclerc earned him a 10-second penalty, an incident for which the Frenchman sincerely apologised, calling his own move "a bit stupid." Compounding the frustration, a stop-go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags further hampered his progress.

Hadjar admitted he lacked the comfort he felt during a strong performance on Saturday, forcing him to focus entirely on keeping the car on track rather than attacking. "I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted," he noted, though he remained optimistic about the team's overall progress. Despite the penalties and the struggle with the machine's handling, his pace over the midfield was sufficient to maintain fifth, ultimately finishing a lap down and well clear of Franco Colapinto.