Isack Hadjar said he immediately felt an improvement in performance from Red Bull’s car when he returned from injury this weekend.
He finished on the podium in his first race having sat out the last three rounds with a wrist injury. Hadjar said he immediately felt confident in the car around the Baku City Circuit.“Baku is a very specific track, specific Tarmac. But to me, the way the car was behaving in terms of through-corner balance this weekend, from lap one in FP1, I was like, ‘Okay, this is looking pretty good.’
“Then the second half of the car, we’re lacking compared to Mercedes, definitely. But in terms of handling on the brakes, the car was, to me, compared to Budapest, it definitely did a step. So I’m really pleased with that.”
Hadjar finished on the podium earlier in the season in Monaco but called yesterday’s result “an actual first proper podium on pure pace.”
“The Monaco podium, of course it was a podium, but it was not on pure pace, not because I qualified in the top three or whatever,” he said. “I felt like this is my first time with the team that I actually get to do a very clean weekend and actually, like, fight my way into that podium.
!So actually, for me, it feels like a real first and it gives me good confidence heading into the next races.”
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