"Worst moment"

Tears! Debut ends in crash barrier – during warm-up

Isack Hadjar crashed his car into the crash barrier and was inconsolable afterwards.(Bild: AP)

"Those must have been the worst moments of my life," he stammered dejectedly into the ORF microphone: Formula 1 rookie Isack Hadjar had been so excited about his debut - and then he crashed his Racing Bulls car into the crash barrier on the warm-up lap on Sunday. The tears flowed.

A marshal tried to console him, and in the pit lane Lewis Hamilton's father even put his arm around his shoulder. But Isack Hadjar was inconsolable. His head was hanging down, didn't want to go up at all. Sure, it wasn't clearly visible under the helmet - but it seemed as if the young "Racing Bull" was crying unrestrainedly. Heartbreaking.

(Bild: AP/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

(Bild: AFP/WILLIAM WEST)

(Bild: AP/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Over before the start
What had happened. Hadjar, one of six rookies, had slipped during the formation lap and ended up in the barrier in turn two: Rear wing broken, rear wheel bent - premiere race over before it had even begun. "Unfortunately, that was a bit of a mess," said Alex Wurz in his live commentary.

"No grip at all"
A little later, Hadjar seemed at least somewhat composed again and tried to pull himself together during the ORF interview. The rookie said that there was "no grip at all" and that "the conditions were really bad": "I misjudged the situation." Afterwards, he would have completed the "walk of shame" - as a retired driver through the pits: "Those were the worst moments of my life."

Hadjar had shown well in the first training sessions and in qualifying. After all, eleventh place in qualifying. Racing Bulls team boss Laurent Mekies had already said on Friday that Hadjar had done "a good job", especially as he had only had "one day of testing in Bahrain" beforehand. The youngster can't buy any more of that after the botched warm-up lap on Sunday.