Isack Hadjar optimistic: If I hadn’t skipped three races, I would be in second place on the grid.

Isack Hadjar secured a fourth-place qualification in Baku with a solid showing during qualifying, yet he feels there was additional potential for both him and Red Bull on Friday in Azerbaijan. He firmly believes that had he not sat out the past three weekends, he would have claimed the second spot.

“Nothing remarkable," he commented to the media, including Motorsport.com. "I just think I need more laps in the car to actually achieve second on the grid. The competition is quite tight ahead."

Hadjar's time of 1m43.500s in Q3 was only 0.137s behind Charles Leclerc, who finished second in the session — with the gap to polesitter George Russell being too significant for anyone else to realistically contend for pole position.

The French driver was also faster than Max Verstappen, who qualified eighth in the session.

“I'm satisfied with my performance," Hadjar stated. "I just feel that if I had participated in the last three races, I would definitely be on the second row. It’s a challenging track to return to after two months.”

This week’s Azerbaijan GP marks Hadjar's first race since the event in Hungary at the end of July — he missed the races in Zandvoort, Monza, and Madrid due to a wrist injury — and he emphasized that he deliberately aimed to build his confidence throughout the practice sessions.

“For me, I told myself it was essential not to hit the wall or anything. For a comeback, there’s no benefit in taking excessive risks, to be honest. So I was really driving slightly beneath my limits the entire weekend in very tight sections. I think I just made that natural progression in Q3.”

"But I had it really under control and started enjoying myself a bit more towards the end of Q2; I actually began to take risks, and for the first time this weekend, I had a lock-up."

"So yes, that was the wise strategy.”

Hadjar also noted how much his Red Bull had evolved since his last time in the car, while acknowledging that Mercedes remained out of reach for him and his team on Friday.

“It feels better in the corners than when I last drove the car in Budapest," he remarked. "There’s definitely been an improvement in balance. Just the way the car behaved right from lap one yesterday, I thought, this is better than before...”

“Mercedes is just incredibly quick in the straights, like really fast. It’s not that they aren’t quick in the corners; they’re still the fastest, but in the straight line during sector three, we are struggling quite a bit.”

Finishing fourth in Azerbaijan marks Hadjar's best qualifying effort since the season opener in Melbourne, where he started third on the grid.