Max Verstappen’s Singapore Grand Prix victory would have been even more dominant if he had been driving for Ferrari, according to his team mate.
“I don’t think we have the fastest car,” said Isack Hadjar ahead of this weekend’s race in Austin.His team mate Verstappen has won the last two grands prix in a row. He beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by seven seconds in Singapore.
However Hadjar believes his team mate is getting more from his car than Ferrari’s drivers are from theirs.
“The car is still very hard to drive,” he explained. “In Malaysia it was dominant but I don’t think in Singapore it was the fastest car. That’s what I believe.
“I think if you put Max in the Ferrari he would have won the race with more margin so that’s my opinion. In Singapore I think [the Ferrari] was the fastest car.”
Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc to pole position by five hundredths of a second. Lewis Hamilton, who was quickest in Q1 and Q2, was another seven hundredths of a second behind in the other Ferrari.
Hadjar finished 10th in Singapore after starting from the pit lane due to a penalty for replacing a failed power unit. He is eager to have a more competitive weekend in Austin.
“It was one of those weekends where you get a failure in each session, so you learn from it and we just move on,” he said. “I’m happy to be here in Texas. I like that track and the car’s been, performance-wise, working really well the last couple of weekends.
“We’re confident as a team, but of course we are aware of the upgrades in the other garages so we’re still down to earth. We still know our weaknesses on the car, we’re still working on it.
“So I just want to go out there and have another clean one because the last two weekends have been very frustrating considering the car I have been given.”
This article will be updated
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