Hadjar hoping for better after traffic woes in Sprint Race

Isack Hadjar will be hoping for more on Sunday, believing that a better result than eighth was on the cards in the Budapest Sprint Race. The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver says that the middle stages in which much of the field had DRS on the driver ahead hurt his chances, leaving him stuck in traffic in the early-to-middle phase of the race.

Firmly part of the DRS train himself, Hadjar admits it was a frustrating afternoon having lost out on a frenetic opening lap around the Hungaroring. Dropping down to ninth, the Red Bull Junior Team driver says that there was little he could do to regain the lost ground.

“It was quite a long and boring one honestly. I had quite a bad start and lost two positions on the first lap and that was it for me. I was just following the other guys around being stuck in traffic.

“You could maybe think of an overtake if the guy ahead made a mistake but that wasn’t the case and I couldn’t try anything except for the last lap where I think it was Kush who was struggling, he created some possibility but other than that, it was really difficult to go for a move.”

While he was stuck in the traffic like his rivals, he was able to nurse the tyres and says that tyre wear should be less of a concern for him in the Feature Race.

Feeling that he had a solid handle on the Pirelli rubber around a track that usually punishes the tyres, the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver says that the team have produced a solid setup for the Feature Race tomorrow.

“It was a DRS train, so I wasn’t asking much of the tyres, just following the guys ahead. I didn’t have much degradation in the end and the pace looked quite good along with the balance, so it looks quite good for tomorrow.”

READ MORE: SPRINT RACE: Hauger leads every lap on the way to Budapest victory

Refocusing his efforts on Sunday's Feature Race, Hadjar believes that he and the Hitech Pulse-Eight team have promising speed so far this weekend. The Frenchman secured his second-best grid spot of the year with fifth and expects to be more competitive than he was in the Sprint.

“This time we will hopefully have a clean start and from there I think if the pace is good and the strategy is decent then we can aim for a podium, top five would be great but a podium even more.”