Isack Hadjar’s Melbourne Weekend In His Words

5 April 2023

As a driver, it’s all about pushing it to the limit to achieve success, but also managing disappointments when luck doesn’t go your way. Isack Hadjar found himself in the school of hard knocks on his first trip to Melbourne.

Follow the Hitech Pulse-Eight rookie’s thoughts during an eventful third round – from getting up to pace quickly, to adapting to wet conditions for the first time, to his dreams of a maiden podium finish failing to materialise.

PRACTICE - P2

“It’s a really, really enjoyable track. It’s really tough with no room for mistakes and really high speed, I enjoyed it out there. The session was pretty good, we adapted to the track quite quickly since we have a competitive car, so it was okay. I think I was quick straight away, except in Sector 3 where I was really struggling the whole session.

“We’ll improve on that, but it’s a very challenging last couple of corners so we have to deal with that. My favourite part is the really long straight before Turns 9 and 10, it feels really good. Heading into Qualifying I’m feeling confident, it seems like we have a really competitive car, even more than in the last few weeks. That’s positive, but it should be a rainy Qualifying session, so let’s see how that goes.”

QUALIFYING - P4

“I just felt really fast and confident straight away from the first lap. We were able to get up to P2 at the end of the second run and I was really confident going into the last one. However, I was just fighting traffic everywhere and I couldn’t improve on my previous lap, but it was enough for fourth. I’ll take that, but definitely it’s really disappointing because I felt there was more.

“At the start I was stressing quite a lot because I knew it was not going to be driveable at all, but still there was aquaplaning everywhere and there was some crash that brought out the Red Flag at the end.”

SPRINT RACE – P10 TO P6

“That was the goal for today just to score points, see how the pace was and see how the balance evolved and everything. We look quite competitive, so we’re in a good position for tomorrow.

“My favourite move was around the outside of Turn 9 on Victor (Martins). It was right before the Safety Car signal came out, so I didn’t have to give back the place. It was quite fun and quite tough, but more overtaking than I thought so that’s positive.

“Starting from fourth tomorrow, a win is definitely there. We have good pace, so we’ll see whether we can achieve that.”

FEATURE RACE – P4 TO P15

“It was a really frustrating Sunday. I was on for an easy podium after all the pit stops, even after the contact with Ollie (Bearman). I was in the pack basically until the incident with Nissany, so it’s really frustrating.”

UP NEXT – BATTLING IN BAKU FOR THE FIRST TIME

“In the end, the pace was really good the whole weekend and that was the main target coming into Melbourne. We achieved that and now with a bit more luck, we’ll be fighting for race wins, so I’m really, really happy with that.”