Isack Hadjar made his return to Formula 1 competition at the Baku City Circuit on Thursday, completing a healthy run of laps in FP2 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after missing three consecutive races with a wrist injury sustained during the summer break.
Hadjar, who last raced at July’s Hungarian Grand Prix, sat out events at Zandvoort, Monza and the Madring circuit while recovering. He returned to the cockpit of his RB22 in Azerbaijan, where Red Bull have introduced a significant upgrade package covering the floor body, diffuser and sidepods.
A gearbox issue curtailed his running in FP1, but Hadjar recovered to finish FP2 in ninth position, 1.5 seconds behind pace-setter George Russell and seven tenths adrift of team mate Max Verstappen.
“It feels good. It’s been a minute, so it was good. I had a good feeling. Not many laps, unfortunately, today, but this will come. I’m not really worried too much about the pace,” Hadjar said after the session.
He was encouraged by the feel of the updated car. “With this new package, we know the characteristic is the same, of the car, but it feels nice. It’s better than when I left it in Budapest, so I’m pretty happy,” he added.
Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache described the team’s day as “quite positive,” noting that both cars ran the upgrade package. “From the first analysis in FP1, and I’m waiting on the FP2 one, we more or less delivered what we expected,” Wache said.
Wache was candid about the competitive picture, acknowledging Mercedes hold an edge heading into the weekend. “Clearly, Mercedes are in front of us after today, especially on the short runs. I think we have to look at the long runs also, but they look quicker,” he said. He assessed McLaren as “a little bit quicker, or similar to us,” while noting Ferrari’s pace was difficult to evaluate after several drivers aborted their soft-tyre laps before the end of the main straight.
Hadjar enters Friday’s running with an additional boost: Red Bull have activated their option to retain him as Verstappen’s team mate through the 2027 season.