Hadjar receives formal warning after erratic driving incident with Albon at US GP

Isack Hadjar of Red Bull has been issued a formal warning by FIA stewards following an incident during final practice at the Circuit of The Americas at the United States Grand Prix. The clash occurred late in FP3 when Hadjar locked up the front brakes on the approach to Turn 1 while on a fast lap. Hadjar believed Alex Albon's Williams was holding him up on the racing line, and immediately expressed frustration over team radio, saying "What the f*** was he doing? Just sleeping on the racing line." After running wide, Hadjar pulled alongside Albon's car and steered towards the Williams driver, appearing to crowd him off the track on corner exit.

The stewards found that Albon had moved to the outside of Turn 1 to avoid impeding Hadjar's approach. However, they determined that Hadjar's subsequent actions constituted "retaliatory action" that amounted to erratic driving. The four-member stewards panel, including Pedro Ramírez, noted that Hadjar was "obviously upset" and took actions that "should be discouraged." The stewards stressed that had the incident been dangerous or resulted in a collision, a more severe penalty would have been imposed.

Albon responded to the incident, saying: "He complains about traffic. He gets in my way, and then I'm completely off the track and he still has a go at me." Hadjar had struggled with setup issues throughout the practice sessions, but secured third on the grid during qualifying, describing his performance as a satisfying "comeback" despite the frustrations of the weekend.

In a separate incident during the same FP3 session, Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi also received a formal warning for impeding Lewis Hamilton's qualifying lap at Turn 12. Bortoleto acknowledged that he had received a warning from his race engineer about Hamilton's approach 15 seconds prior but forgot the notification while managing his own car setup.