SUZUKA, Japan -- Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar took his car through to Q3 at the Japanese Grand Prix despite "nightmare" pain from his seatbelt.
Hadjar qualified seventh, far ahead of new Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson and newly-promoted Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, who both failed to make the final session.
But to get there he had to endure belt that were too tight around his body.
His back and forth with the team on the radio over the issue featured prominently in the coverage of Q1.
"It was a nightmare, man -- honestly, it was," Hadjar told Sky Sports. "I just pulled through; honestly, I'm really proud of me, like the lap I did in Q1 with what I had, unbelievable."
"I was like 'OK, this is not going well', and I nearly crashed actually. But I'm OK."
Hadjar clarified that the team had rectified the issue during the session.
"In Q1, of course you don't have time to get to jump back out, so I had to deal with it and pull through Q2. But when I came back in the car, put the belts back on, it was all good. It was just pain."
It was an impressive qualifying performance from Hadjar in a week which has been dominated by the news of the Tsunoda and Lawson swap.
