- Antonelli and Hadjar collided on Lap 1 of the Chinese Sprint.
- The FIA handed Antonelli a 10-second penalty, but he recovered to score points.
- Hadjar, still disappointed, rejected Antonelli’s post-race apology.
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar dismissed Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli’s apology following their dramatic collision at the Chinese Sprint race. During the short race, Antonelli started from 2nd, with his teammate George Russell at the front, and behind him was McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Hadjar began from 10th position, but a mistake from Antonelli during Lap 1 damaged his car and cost him the race, making him finish in an undesirable position. Aware of his fault, Antonelli did reach out to Hadjar post-race, but the latter appeared clearly disappointed by the incident.
Where did the Antonelli–Hadjar drama begin?
The incident between Antonelli and Hadjar occurred at Turn 6 on Lap 1. The Mercedes driver, who started 2nd, faced a boost issue, which dropped him into the midfield. In what appeared to be a hurry to recover the position, he shortly afterwards tried to go on the inside and overtake Hadjar’s car, but instead collided with it and damaged the side of the Red Bull.
This unintentional mistake significantly affected Hadjar’s position throughout the race and also cost the team some points, which they desperately need, given their cars’ recent lacklustre performance, which has frustrated even Max Verstappen.
FIA issues a penalty to Antonelli
After investigating the Antonelli–Hadjar incident, the FIA handed a 10-second penalty to Car 12. When Nico Hülkenberg’s Audi incident led to the appearance of the Safety Car, Antonelli served the penalty at the time, which saved him time and helped him recover positions in the remaining laps. While Antonelli lost his 2nd position, he finished 5th and brought the team some points.
Initially, he was 6th as Oscar Piastri overtook him ahead of the start-finish line on a Safety Car restart. However, as it could have cost Piastri and McLaren points, given that it was an infringement of FIA rules, the team asked him to give the position back to Antonelli. His teammate Russell won the sprint race instead.
Antonelli apologises, Hadjar rejects
After the sprint race, Antonelli came out of his car and went straight to Hadjar’s Red Bull to apologise for the incident that cost him his race. In the video shared by F1, while Antonelli appears to talk to him and say sorry, Hadjar, disappointedly, seems to ask him to go away and refuses to listen to him before getting out of the car.
During a conversation with Canal+, Hadjar subtly took a dig at Antonelli without mentioning his name or the sprint incident.
He said, “I don’t understand why he’s so worked up when he has a rocket of a car and is going to move up anyway… Well, these things happen.” Coming in support of Antonelli, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called Hadjar’s reaction to Antonelli’s apology “unsportsmanlike.”
