Isack Hadjar survived the first lap mess and a great battle with Gasly in his first Sprint

This time, everything went well during the formation lap and nothing and no one prevented Isack Hadjar from starting his first sprint race in Formula 1The Frenchman, 15th on the grid after managing to qualify in SQ2 on Friday, had a lively race with several battles on the program.

After having fought for a long time against Gabriel Bortoleto, recalling their duel for the title in F2 Last season, the Parisian tried to contain the crazy comeback of Pierre Gasly, without success. “It’s my first start in F1 and I really enjoyed myself.. assures Hadjar, finally 13th behind theAlpine, with a broad smile on the Canal+ microphone. The plan was to do all the laps to have a good base for tomorrow's race. I tried to take it easy on the first lap, it was a mess. I tried not to have any damage, I did my race and the car was working really well.

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"We can see that he has experience. he smiles when talking about his battle with Pierre Gasly, who he is quite close to off the track. At one point I thought I had gotten rid of him, so I went quite slowly into the first corner and he passed me on the outside, but our car seems to be working well so we will have to make the most of it tomorrow."

The duel between the two French players turned to the advantage of the more experienced of the two, who put all his know-how to the service of an overtaking of an old veteran which surprised the rookie. "I got it because I probably have a little more experience. deciphers Pierre Gasly. When I passed him, I saw that his line in the first corner was different from mine. I saw that I was able to keep a bit more speed on the entry, while he was able to do it later in the corner, so I knew I could get back the position. When you see that Yuki (tsunoda, 6th) is fighting with the leaders, I think they have a very good car this weekend and I think this afternoon during qualifying they will be strong men. assures the pilot Alpine.

Yuki Tsunoda's latest brilliant performance indeed suggests that the VCARB02 has the potential to aim high in qualifying. Having come very close to making it into Q3 at Melbourne (11th), Isack Hadjar will have a new opportunity to shine.