Campos Jr: ‘Only a matter of time’ for Hadjar to shine after early season misfortune

9 July 2024

As the garages were packed up at Silverstone, Campos Racing had the biggest smiles in the paddock as they and their driver Isack Hadjar left in the lead of the Teams’ and Drivers’ Championships respectively.

Team Principal Adrián Campos Jr could hardly hide his delight at the fact and was keen to note how deserved Hadjar’s ascent to the top had been after a tricky start to the 2024 campaign.

“I can’t complain. We’re doing well, both team and driver, I think we’re operating at a strong level. I think Isack is the driver to beat right now and even when he wasn’t leading the Championship I think it was the case. The only reason he wasn’t leading the Championship from the beginning is because of the bad luck we had earlier in the year.

“We’ve now got the lead and need to stay strong, take advantage of the momentum we have and let’s see how the Championship goes. We need to go race by race but do as well as possible.”

Three retirements and a further non-scoring finish coming as a result of a car issue in Jeddah left the Frenchman well adrift. However, back-to-back Feature Race victories in Melbourne and Imola reignited his title hopes, and at Silverstone, he added a third Feature success to his 2024 record.

Hadjar put himself into winning contention with a mature drive says Campos Jr

A lot of the hard work came in the first stint, as Hadjar initially lost ground from lights out, but rebounded with a mature drive through the pack in the lead up to the pitstop phase, as Campos notes.

“The main thing that changed everything was the start. The start was very difficult because it was raining, got a bit of wheelspin and lost three positions. He wanted to be safe at Turn 1 and lost out to Bearman also.

“We knew we had to fight but also to keep the tyres alive. So, he tried to make the places on track, but Victor was defending hard, so we made the decision to back off a little bit, did a good pitstop, a good outlap on cold tyres from Isack which was very important.

“We had the chance later again, we lost a position because Victor was defending so hard because Crawford was able to keep the tyres in good condition as a spectator of the battle between Isack and Victor.

“Still, we had very good pace as the tyres were destroyed after the fight with Victor. We knew that there was a penalty for Crawford ahead and we told Isack not to risk anything, stay within the five seconds and that’s how we managed it. It was well done by the team and driver.”

Hadjar and Campos now lead both Championships heading to Budapest

With a week’s break now before the paddock reconvenes in Budapest, Campos Jr says the team cannot afford to let up now they are performing at or near their peak.

The summer break is approaching fast and the Campos Team Principal is eager to press home their current performances, with the team confident around a range of venues and circuit types now.

“This is exactly the key right now – we have been strong around every circuit, maybe not destroyed everyone but, we have been strong everywhere. Every weekend we arrive and are strong right away.

“This is key to give confidence to the drivers, knowing we can go into the next weekend and be strong and I think we have a very good package. The team has done a very good job with the new car, and that’s hugely important.”