Isack Hadjar has questioned Kimi Antonelli for being overly aggressive following an incident during the Chinese GP Sprint that left the former with damage on the side of his Red Bull. Hadjar said he does not understand why Antonelli was so eager to overtake him when he was driving a “rocketship” and would have gotten past later in the lap anyway.

Antonelli had a poor start during the Chinese GP Sprint and was down in P9 going into Turn 6 on the first lap, wheel-to-wheel with Hadjar. The Italian driver then made a lunge on the inside but locked up and ran into the side of Hadjar’s RB22.

Antonelli received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. But while he was able to recover during the 19-lap race, Hadjar was left with significant damage to his Red Bull and was unable to earn points.

After the race, Hadjar questioned why Antonelli needed to get “overexcited” even though he had a much quicker car.

“I just don’t understand why he’s so overexcited like that, even though he’s got a rocketship. He’s going to climb back up the ranks no matter what. I mean, it’s not really a big deal, stuff happens,” Hadjar said (via Canal+).

Kimi Antonelli served his penalty in the race, thanks to a safety car. Almost all drivers made a pit stop, which is otherwise rare for a sprint. The 19-year-old finished P5.

Meanwhile, Isack Hadjar had already started dropping back during the race due to the damage he suffered and was eventually overtaken by teammate Max Verstappen. When the safety car arrived, Red Bull had to double-stack in the pits, and Hadjar lost a lot of time as the second car and finished P15.

Kimi Antonelli apologizes to Mercedes following the Chinese GP Sprint

Kimi Antonelli came over the team radio following the Chinese GP Sprint and apologized to his Mercedes team for his slow first-lap performance during the race. The teenager added that he had no boost on the race start, leading to his poor get-off-the-line.

Coming over the team radio following the shortened race in Shanghai, Antonelli said:

“Yeah, sorry about that. Lap 1, I mean, the start. Yeah, scrappy race, but, I had no boost at the start.”

Antonelli seemed to have even more issues at the start of the Chinese GP Sprint, similar to his poor start at the Australian GP a week ago. Antonelli had enough pace in his Mercedes W17 this time as well to return to the very front of the field, but his 10-second penalty meant he had to settle in P5.