Isack Hadjar bullish: If I hadn't missed three races,…

Isack Hadjar qualified fourth in Baku with a strong performance in qualifying - but believes there was more on the table for him and Red Bull on Friday in Azerbaijan. Had he not missed the last three weekends, he's adamant, he would have been second.

“Nothing outstanding," he said of his session to the media, including Motorsport.com. "I just feel like I just need more laps in the car to actually be second on the grid. It's quite close ahead."

Hadjar's 1m43.500s in Q3 was just 0.137s slower than Charles Leclerc, who ended up second in the session - with the gap to polesitter George Russell too big for anyone else to realistically claim they were in contention for pole.

The Frenchman was also quicker than Max Verstappen, who ended up eighth in the session.

“I'm happy with myself," Hadjar declared. "I just, you know, if I had been racing the last three races, then I would definitely be second on the grid. I just feel like it's a tough track to come back to after two months.”

This week's Azerbaijan GP is the first for the Frenchman since the race in Hungary at the end of July - he missed races in Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid due to a wrist injury - and he stressed that he intentionally chose to build his confidence throughout the practice sessions.

“For me, 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, to be fair. So I was really driving a bit under the limits the whole weekend in like very tight sections. I think I just did that natural step in Q3.”

"But I had it really like under control and I started having a bit more fun at the end of Q2, I was actually taking risks and actually I went away for the first time this weekend, I had a lock-up.

"So yeah, that was the smart approach.”

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images)

Hadjar also stressed that he noticed how his Red Bull had changed since he was last behind the wheel - while admitting Mercedes was still out of reach for him and his team on Friday.

“It feels better in the corners than when I left the car in Budapest," he said. "Definitely did a step on the balance. Just the behaviour of the car straightaway, lap one yesterday, I was like, this is better than just...

“Mercedes are just fast in the straights, like just very fast. It's not like they're not fast in the corners, they're the fastest still, but it's just when you're in the straight line in sector three, we're struggling a lot.”

Fourth in Azerbaijan is Hadjar's best qualifying performance since the season opener in Melbourne, where he lined up third on the grid.