Penalty or not, Hadjar believes second on Bahrian GP grid was possible

Isack Hadjar believes he could have made it a Red Bull one-two in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with his grid penalty making his result even more frustrating.

Red Bull opted to take a new internal combustion engine (ICE) on Hadjar’s car in Malaysia, resulting in a five-place grid drop. That means the Frenchman will start from eighth after qualifying third behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, and he feels he could have beaten Hamilton to gain an extra starting spot that would help his chances of recovering into the podium positions.

“Second, I would say [was possible] – anything I can take to limit tomorrow’s penalty,” Hadjar said. “I just feel like it’s the first weekend that, after three free practice sessions, I feel like I need a bit more mileage because the laps are so limited here with the big tire degradation. So basically, each compound, you get one lap of learning, each set of tires, basically.

“I just feel like I worked quite well the whole weekend, but I feel like I wish there was another qualifying so I can keep improving the balance of the car, because I was not really satisfied with how we ended the session. And I had a few issues on the deployment on that last lap.

“So, all in all, nothing really aligned, and to come out in third with all these issues… On a normal weekend I would be P8 and now I’m third. So, we should be happy about the performance, but I’m not really.

“I don’t think I’m going to see [the top two] tomorrow because it’s quite dictated by your starting position. You may be super quick, then when you sit behind a car that’s still competitive... Tomorrow I’ll be fighting Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, so they are fast cars and it’s not like I’m going to run through them at all. So, in the end, I’m going to have to look after the tires, make the most of the free air I get and try and climb.”

Despite his frustration at the grid penalty, Hadjar reiterated how impressed he has been by the gains Red Bull has made in recent races, following on from his podium in Azerbaijan last weekend.

“I definitely feel like I jumped in a car that’s way better than when I left it in Budapest” he said. “Definitely, when you step out actually for three races and you come back, you actually notice a bigger difference. And the last two weekends have been surprising. Even though I was following from close, even though I was on the bench, I feel like I’m quite surprised driving this car right now.

“I still believe there are things that need major improvements and still the car is performing OK, so it’s only good news. But, to be fair, I’m actually surprised it’s performing that well on a tarmac that has such low grip. Usually it doesn’t really suit our car, but apparently it does. So it’s good that it works in Baku and Sepang, two completely different tracks.”