Hadjar confident he can take pole in Abu Dhabi after going fastest in Free Practice

Isack Hadjar was very pleased with how his and Campos Racing’s opening session of the Yas Marina weekend went, as the Championship contender topped the timesheets in Free Practice.

The Frenchman was near the top of the leaderboard throughout the 45-minute outing, but it was his final lap of a 1:37.817 after the chequered flag that put him up to P1.

It was an eye-catching time considering that he beat title rivals Gabriel Bortoleto in second by 0.229s, and Paul Aron in fourth by over three and a half tenths.

Reflecting on the session afterwards, Hadjar said: “It's interesting because the Medium was holding on a bit better than we expected and we could improve until the end and we had really strong pace from the first lap.

“So yeah, just happy with it, happy with the balance, we made a few adjustments that paid off for that second run, and now we are back to a track that suits us a bit more and I am confident for Quali.”

Hadjar and Campos have struggled in Qualifying at the last two rounds, especially when compared to their rivals for the title, ending up P20 in Baku and P9 in Lusail.

But the Spanish outfit and the Red Bull junior are happy to be racing in Abu Dhabi this weekend, with Hadjar going into depth why the Yas Marina Circuit suits them a bit more.

“I think it's just the tarmac specificity of the track,” said Hadjar. “We've been to Baku and Qatar where the grip was really low and that didn't suit us at all. Now we're back to more traditional tracks, like the European races, and it works out much better.”

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While happy with his run on the Mediums, Hadjar and the rest of the grid didn’t use the Supersofts ahead of Qualifying, but the Frenchman does not believe much will change, except the grip levels across both the front and rear axles increasing.

But before he jumps back in the car with the Supersofts strapped on, Hadjar will be making an appearance for Red Bull Racing in the opening Free Practice session of the Formula 1 weekend.

The last time he did this was at Silverstone, where he went on to take Pole Position. He is confident of doing so again this week with the title on the line but, with the top 14 drivers covered by a second, he is expecting a tight battle.

“That's the target because I believe my car is good and I can deliver like it did in Silverstone,” said Hadjar on taking pole. “Now it's just up to me if I can switch off from F1 and get back to F2, so it's down to me, but I believe if I can do it.

“It's gonna be super tight because obviously I will have to readapt to F2 but it's a close track and I expect the gaps to be really, really short so we need to be super precise on what we do.”