Isack Hadjar: "If I hadn't missed three races, I'd be second"

Pulse Sports Team 17:16 - 25 September 2026

Isack Hadjar secured a strong fourth-place qualifying position in Baku, but the Red Bull driver believes he could have achieved even more on Friday in Azerbaijan. He is adamant that had he not missed the last three race weekends, he would have been starting from second on the grid.

"Nothing extraordinary," he commented to the media about his session. "I just feel like I need more laps in the car to be second on the grid. The gap ahead of me is quite small."

Hadjar's time of 1:43.500 in the third qualifying segment was only 0.137 seconds slower than Charles Leclerc, who finished second. However, the gap to pole-sitter George Russell was too significant for anyone else to realistically challenge for the top spot.

The Frenchman also outpaced his teammate Max Verstappen, who ended the session in eighth.

"I'm happy with myself," Hadjar stated. "It's just, you know, if I had raced in the last three events, I would definitely have been second. I feel this is a tough track to return to after two months away."

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix marks the Frenchman's first race since Hungary at the end of July. He missed the events in Zandvoort, Monza, and Madrid due to a wrist injury and emphasized that he deliberately chose to build his confidence gradually during practice sessions.

"I told myself it was essential not to touch the wall or anything like that. When you're coming back, there's no point in taking too many risks, honestly. So, I drove a bit under the limit throughout the weekend in the very tight sections. I think I made that natural step forward in Q3."

"But I kept everything under control and started to have more fun towards the end of Q2, which is when I actually started taking risks and, for the first time this weekend, locked up the tires."

"So, yeah, that was the smart approach," he concluded.

Hadjar also noted changes in his Red Bull since he last drove it, while acknowledging that Mercedes remained out of reach for him and his team on Friday.

"The feeling in the corners is better than when I left the car in Budapest," he said. "There's definitely a step forward in the balance. From the very first lap yesterday, the car's behavior was such that I thought, 'This is better than..."

"Mercedes are just fast on the straights, very fast. It's not that they aren't quick in the corners too; they're still the fastest there, but when you're on the straight in sector three, we struggle significantly."

Fourth place in Azerbaijan is Hadjar's best qualifying performance since the season opener in Melbourne, where he started third.

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