Incredible Qatar twist: Isack Hadjar’s car sheds a piece that punctures his tyre on final laps. Isack Hadjar lost a sixth place in Qatar after a broken component from his own Racing Bulls.

F1 | Hadjar’s heartbreak: a part flying off his car caused the late puncture

Sometimes fate can be brutally ironic. Isack Hadjar lost a valuable sixth place in Lusail due to a puncture caused by a piece of his own Racing Bulls car: the left front deflector, damaged by vibrations over the kerbs, broke loose on the penultimate lap and struck his tyre, which was already at the 25-lap limit, forcing him to retire.

A tiny fragment of carbon fibre — a type of component that will disappear next year — completely overturned Isack Hadjar’s race just two laps from the end, wiping away a hard-earned sixth position. It was a bizarre puncture, born mainly from the traps Lusail hides, and one that left a bitter taste.

Pirelli had made it clear from the start that the Qatar Grand Prix would be a brutal test for tyres, so much so that they imposed a maximum limit of 25 laps per set to minimise the risk of punctures. The decision stemmed from the unique nature of the Lusail circuit, made up of multiple high-speed corners that put enormous stress on the tyres, especially the left-hand side.

In Lusail, the real problem is volumetric degradation — the progressive wear of the tread which, lap after lap, thins out and risks exposing the carcass, making the tyre vulnerable to cuts from external objects. This explains why Pirelli set the 25-lap cap: ensuring there is always enough tread to protect the carcass and reduce risks as much as possible.

However, with the Safety Car intervention and all teams choosing to use it for one of the mandatory pit stops, the drivers found themselves forced to complete exactly 25 laps on each tyre set to reach the chequered flag. This eliminated any strategic flexibility and made it impossible to adapt tactics during the race.

It quickly became clear that every tyre was being pushed right to the edge of Pirelli’s operating limit. This resulted in significantly reduced tread depth, leaving tyres far more vulnerable to cuts from carbon fragments or gravel dragged onto the racing line — something that had already caused headaches during Friday practice.

This was one of the two factors that ultimately caused Isack Hadjar’s late-race retirement. The other was tied to the nature of Lusail itself: a sequence of fast corners where running over kerbs generates intense vibrations, capable of putting carbon components under extreme stress.

That is exactly what happened to the Racing Bulls rookie. After touching a kerb on the exit of Turn 12 — the fastest section of the circuit — on lap 48, the violent vibrations caused one of the side deflectors surrounding the front tyres and managing the airflow in that area to crack. Initially, the component remained attached, dangling from the car.

Only on the penultimate lap did the part detach completely on the main straight, striking the left-front tyre — the most stressed in Qatar and already nearing the 25-lap limit with minimal tread left. Being a sharp carbon element, the impact created a cut that moments later turned into a terminal puncture.

An incredibly unlucky scenario that denied Racing Bulls the chance to secure sixth place in the constructors’ championship. The Faenza team must now defend its 12-point advantage over Aston Martin at Abu Dhabi. “It was really a very frustrating end to the race. With ten laps to go I started seeing the left-front endplate vibrating a lot, so I tried to avoid the kerbs as much as possible,” Isack Hadjar explained.

“Unfortunately, it broke, causing a puncture and damaging the car, which forced me to retire. It’s a shame because today we lost a lot of points and, after a difficult start that I will analyse with the team, it would have been an important reward for us after fighting for sixth place all race long.”