Racing Bulls Formula 1 driver Isack Hadjar is set to start the Italian Grand Prix from the pitlane due to an engine change.
Hadjar, who starred at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix with a maiden podium, looks unlikely to repeat his Zandvoort heroics after his team decided to fit an all-new Honda power unit after qualifying.
It is the fifth power unit for the 20-year-old Frenchman, breaking his allowance of four engines for the season and, as the change is being made between qualifying and the race, forcing him to start from the pitlane due to a parc ferme breach.
It is understood the decision to change power units was already made before qualifying and was not a reaction to Hadjar’s lowly qualifying position, although the reduced sporting penalty is obviously a mitigating factor.
It was a tough afternoon for Racing Bulls as a whole, with Liam Lawson dead last in Q1 after a troubled qualifying run. Lawson had to abandon his final lap after a massive slide coming out of the first Lesmo right-hander, dipping into the gravel.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was also eliminated from an extremely tight Q1 session, joined in the drop zone by Alpine pairing Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly. The entire 20-car field was covered by eight tenths.
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