Isack Hadjar highlights agonising Baku consequence of Red Bull absence

Isack Hadjar has suggested he would have claimed a front-row spot on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix starting grid had he not missed the last three events.

Following an injury picked up during the summer break, Hadjar was ruled out of the following three rounds in Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid.

He was deemed fit enough to return in Baku and fired himself into P4 for his second-best qualifying result of the campaign.

Hadjar insisted he took a measured approach to his return, having not driven the car since the end of July.

“I'm happy about the approach,” Hadjar told media including RacingNews365. 

“I just took it very slowly yesterday until Q1, when I made a step, but I just felt like I needed more laps in the car to actually be second on the grid. 

“It's quite close ahead. I'm happy with myself, just if I had been racing the last three races, I would definitely be second on the grid. 

“I just feel like it's a tough track to come back to after two months.”

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Hadjar drove 'under the limit' to avoid car damage

With Baku being a high-speed circuit with very little margin for error, practice and qualifying saw several yellow flags deployed as drivers ran wide.

Hadjar, however, insisted that he purposely drove away from the limit right until crunch time in qualifying in order to keep himself out of trouble.

“I told myself it's mandatory not to touch the wall or anything, for a comeback, there's no point taking a lot of risks,” he said.

“I was really driving a bit under the limit the whole weekend in the very tight sections. 

“I just did that natural step in Q3, but I had it really under control, and I started having a bit more fun.

“At the end of Q2, I was actually taking risks, and I went away for the first time this weekend, I had the lock-up.”