Furious F1 star refuses apology from rival over controversial Chinese GP incident

Isack Hadjar, George Russell, Kimi Antonelli, Australian GP, 2026, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

Chinese Grand Prix

Furious F1 star refuses apology from rival over controversial Chinese GP incident

A new rivalry arose at the Chinese Grand Prix

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 17 March 2026 13:56

Onboard F1 footage has uncovered the spicy moment one star rejected an apology from their rival at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Two F1 youngsters were at the centre of a sprint race drama in Shanghai, where Kimi Antonelli made contact with Isack Hadjar at Turn 6 and sent the bodywork from the Frenchman's RB22 flying off.

Antonelli finished the sprint race in fifth, but Hadjar couldn't recover back into the points and was classified in P15. While Antonelli was punished for the collision with a 10-second time penalty, Hadjar appeared to reject his apology after the race.

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Onboard footage from both Hadjar and Antonelli's cockpit shows the Mercedes star going over to the Red Bull driver, where he bent down to speak to his rival. Hadjar however, dismissed Antonelli with a wave of his hand seemingly brushing off the apology.

Speaking to Canal+ after the sprint race, Hadjar was clearly irritated and said: "I don’t understand why he’s so worked up when he has a rocket of a car and is going to move up anyway... Well, these things happen."

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Hadjar brush off defended

Sky Sports Germany pundit Ralf Schumacher observed the interaction during their broadcast, and opted to defend Hadjar.

He said: "Normally, you don’t do that, because he’s a very impulsive person, and of course he can get frustrated. I think we shouldn’t judge him right away. After 20 laps, you can already calm down a bit. But hey, that’s just his personality. We see him act like that in the paddock."

"He’s a top-level athlete, someone who is totally focused and gives his all to the sport. So yes, you could say that a reaction like that can happen sometimes. But of course, he’ll learn from it too. And maybe in five years, he would have reacted differently."

Meanwhile, Antonelli put the penalty behind him and became F1's youngest polesitter in qualifying for the main race. The young Italian then converted the pole on Sunday into his first ever grand prix win, an emotional victory for the Mercedes team.

Hadjar on the other hand finished eighth, the only Red Bull to score a point after Max Verstappen's retirement.

F1 Red Bull Mercedes Kimi Antonelli Chinese Grand Prix Isack Hadjar