Hadjar claims he would have started second in Baku without three-race injury absence

Isack Hadjar delivered a composed comeback qualifying performance in Baku on Friday, placing fourth on the grid for Red Bull — and the Frenchman is convinced that rustiness from a three-race absence was the only thing standing between him and second place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Hadjar’s Q3 lap of 1m43.500s left him just 0.137 seconds behind Charles Leclerc in second, and notably ahead of Max Verstappen, who could only manage eighth. The result marks his best qualifying showing since Melbourne, where he started third.

“Nothing outstanding,” Hadjar told media in Baku. “I just feel like I just need more laps in the car to actually be second on the grid. It’s quite close ahead.”

The 20-year-old had been absent since the Hungarian Grand Prix at the end of July, sitting out races in Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid with a wrist injury. Returning to a street circuit as demanding as Baku presented an obvious challenge, and Hadjar said he deliberately managed his risk throughout practice.

“For me, I told myself it’s mandatory not to touch the wall or anything,” he explained. “For a comeback, there’s no point taking a lot of risks, to be fair. So I was really driving a bit under the limits the whole weekend in like very tight sections. I think I just did that natural step in Q3.”

He added that the session only truly opened up late in Q2, when he allowed himself to push harder for the first time. “I started having a bit more fun at the end of Q2, I was actually taking risks and actually I went away for the first time this weekend, I had a lock-up. So yeah, that was the smart approach.”

Hadjar also noted that the Red Bull felt meaningfully different from the car he left behind in Budapest, crediting the team with a step forward in balance. However, he acknowledged that Mercedes remained in a class of their own on the Baku straights.

“It feels better in the corners than when I left the car in Budapest,” he said. “Definitely did a step on the balance. Just the behaviour of the car straightaway, lap one yesterday, I was like, this is better.”

“Mercedes are just fast in the straights, like just very fast. It’s not like they’re not fast in the corners, they’re the fastest still, but it’s just when you’re in the straight line in sector three, we’re struggling a lot.”

Polesitter George Russell was comfortably clear of the field, with Hadjar conceding the gap to the Mercedes was too large to contest pole. But with Leclerc only fractionally ahead and Verstappen well behind him, Hadjar’s argument that he was operating below his ceiling carries genuine weight.