Isack Hadjar 'overdid it' in having 'fun' with Liam Lawson

Isack Hadjar has held his hands up to making a mistake in fighting team-mate Liam Lawson that almost proved extremely costly for Racing Bulls.

Hadjar was battling Lawson for seventh place over the closing stages of the São Paulo Grand Prix after the New Zealander had superbly executed a one-stop strategy over 71 laps around Interlagos.

On the final lap, Hadjar went for a move around the outside of Lawson into Turn 1, and was almost ahead before backing out at the braking point, leading to the duo banging wheels.

Both drivers managed to keep their cars on track, finishing seventh and eighth for a 10-point haul that has pulled them 10 points clear of Aston Martin and 12 points ahead of Haas in the fight for sixth position in the constructors' championship.

Lawson was left breathing a sigh of relief at the end of the race, claiming he and Hadjar were "lucky" to avoid a more serious incident, suggesting that the French driver "misjudged" his move.

Hadjar later conceded that he "pushed it a little too much".

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, he added: "Honestly, it was very fun. You know, he went on a one-stop, and on the very last lap, I'm in his gearbox. You can't do any better than that.

"I tried and I overdid it. Kind of my mistake. Just the strategy on the first couple of laps was not good enough."

The latter remark referenced the fact that Hadjar started the race on used softs. With a full tank of fuel on board his car, the rubber did not last as long as he and the team would have hoped before the start.

"The race was not very good," insisted Hadjar, later speaking to the media, including RacingNews365.

"The strategy on the first stint was not good, and then we lost time. We tried to make up for it, but we didn't have an amazing pace for that, so not good."

Hadjar at least welcomed the points collected for the constructors' championship, ending the team's poor run of three consecutive races without scoring. 

"That's good," he said. "We had a very good Sunday points-wise. It helps us in the [fight for] sixth place.

"It's a good track. I had a lot of fun, honestly, in the race. If anything, I gained a lot of experience. I had a lot of overtakes, [did a lot of] defending. As I said, a lot of fun, but just not enough points for the effort."