Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Isack Hadjar had a big grin after winning Formula 2’s Melbourne feature race, particularly after his sprint race victory had been taken away.
A 10-second penalty for contact with Campos Racing team-mate Pepe Marti dropped Hadjar from first to sixth in the results of Saturday’s race.
“It does feel like redemption,” Hadjar said after winning the feature race. “In my mind, I won yesterday on track, that’s the most important to me. The penalty came and it’s just less points in the championship. But in my mind I won twice this weekend. And that’s what matters the most to me.”
“After the first few laps, I was P8 and it was clear which lap I was going to pit. Pepe had the priority, he was going to pit before me. So the lap I pitted, I knew to do a good in-lap and then I would have a free pitlane. And then I saw the virtual safety car, and from that point, honestly, I knew it [victory] was pretty much in the bag. Super lucky with that, I have to admit, but when you look at my last year-and-a-half, it’s been a disaster for me, from this point of view. So it feels good.”
Formula Scout asked Hadjar about the communications with his team on choosing to pit on lap 10. A VSC period had ended on lap nine, and another began when Hadjar was in the pits, helping him gain a place.
“I had to stay behind Pepe. He had the priority on when to pit. And I was right behind him. So it was quite frustrating because I wanted to pit with everyone, because the supersoft [tyres] were basically done. Loads of degradation. And then we pitted a lap later, from a decent place, I would say. But we found ourselves, when I entered the pitlane, under the VSC, so honestly from that point I knew [it had gone well for us].”
Hadjar said he “performed really well” and “the speed has always been there” in the first two rounds, but “didn’t get the results due to a technical issue and being taken out” so his Sunday luck in Melbourne “made a big difference” for turning pace into results.
“It’s been a really tough year-and-a-half. Even though I feel like sometimes I [am] giving the best of myself and going home with no points, or not much,” the F2 sophomore said. “So to finally make it stick this weekend is great, giving me a lot of confidence and [giving] the momentum for more next time.”
During the weekend he ended “a really long wait” for a win dating back to FIA Formula 3’s Red Bull Ring feature race in July 2022, and celebrated a day early as “I got to go on the podium and spray some champagne” following the sprint race before his penalty arrived. He added: “To cap it off with a proper race win today in the feature race is a great revenge.”