Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Campos Racing’s drivers are the second and eighth fastest in Formula 2 this year on absolute pace, third and fourth on race pace and were one-two at in-season testing.
Isack Hadjar and Pepe Marti sit fourth and seventh in the standings after three rounds, and Campos is second in the teams’ standings despite races defined by mechanical failures, accidents and penalties.
“From one side I am happy because it has been good, but from the other side I also think it could have been a lot better,” team principal Adrian Campos Jr told Formula Scout.
“Even losing so many points we are still up there in the championship. Isack is very strong in every point. He is very confident. He got along with the team very well. He trusts us and we trust him and this is something that will bring very good results in the upcoming races.
“In the case of Pepe, he has less experience. He has been very good in the race pace with the medium and soft compound. He’s struggling a little bit more with the hard compound and the qualifying pace. It’s something that we are working on right now. If we can improve these two important things, and I think it’s something that can be improved easily from him, we can also be fighting for podiums very often with him.”
Hadjar is “happy to have moved to Campos” for his sophomore F2 season, but like his boss has a bittersweet taste about 2024 so far. He feels he is “back in championship contention” after winning last time out in the Melbourne feature race.
“There hasn’t been really a moment, a day with Campos where we felt really slow. Always fighting at the top. The pace is definitely super strong, super consistent. And I think it’s the most important in a championship like F2. You want to be quick every time you go on track. Not particularly the fastest but you want to be in control and have something great every time you go out.”
Marti feels stepping up to F2 this year as a Red Bull junior has put “a little bit more responsibility on my shoulders”.
“I’ve been learning a lot from the Formula 1 team and their feedback has been of the most important in my growth in the first few rounds. The target is to be in the top 10 to score points consistently, to have good qualifyings,” he said.
The season started at Bahrain with a double podium for Marti, which he acknowledges is “practically impossible” to replicate regularly.
“We’re working on that [qualifying deficit] to try to make our lives less dramatic through the year, try to avoid issues both setup and car-wise as much as I can do as well in the car to avoid problems and [make it easier] do a good lap in qualifying, do a good start. Obviously the further up you are, the better chances you have.”