MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar is heading into the season-opening Formula 1 race in Australia with fewer than 500 laps in a Grand Prix car under his belt
The 20-year-old Hadjar has been dubbed ‘Petit Prost’ — a young version of former F1 star Alain Prost — by the French media for his successes in F2 last year, when he finished runner-up with four victories. That was two more than champion Gabriel Bortoleto, now with Sauber.
The French driver has had just four practice sessions in F1 and last year’s post-season test for Red Bull Racing and the brand’s second Grand Prix team, now known as Racing Bulls. He says “it’s enough” ahead of his first F1 race weekend.
“Ideally, I would go on different tracks, of course, because now Melbourne in an F1 car is pretty challenging,” Hadjar said. “By F1 experience, I’ve been on really easy tracks — Bahrain and Abu Dhabi mostly. So now on really challenging tracks, it’s going to be a fair bit different.”
He says he doesn’t need more practice laps, though, even if he’s one of the least experienced of the six rookies on the F1 grid. Australian F1 Grand Prix official practice starts Friday, with qualifying Saturday and the race on Sunday afternoon.
“You just need mileage, and you need the real racing,” Hadjar said. Going out alone to do the 300 kilometers (186 miles) to qualify for FIA’s Super License to race F1 is good for understanding the car setup, he added, “but when you’re racing 19 other cars, it’s completely different.”
“So I need to do my first race. You need to learn on the job for that.”
Hadjar has good memories of Melbourne, having won the F2 feature race for Campos Racing last year and ensuring he goes into the weekend with confidence.
“An F1 track becomes really different once you go into an F1 car,” he said. “But I would say, I had the dream weekend here last year in F2, so it’s like playing at home.”
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AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one
Stewart Bell, The Associated Press
