Isack Hadjar’s Qualifying in Austria came to an unfortunate end after he suffered a mechanical issue which saw him in the pits with half of the session still to go.
He qualified 21st with only Campos’ Ralph Boschung behind him. Many drivers will be crossing their fingers that they won’t pick up a penalty as track limits have already caused trouble for some drivers, like Enzo Fittipaldi who had his lap time deleted during the session.
The stewards are likely to remain busy throughout the evening and more penalties are expected to be given which could help Hadjar pick up a few extra places.
Hadjar spoke to insideF2’s Fraser Ford after the session:
“We had a sensor issue so we couldn’t complete the first run and we had a really short and messy first run. I could only go for one attempt, I was just avoiding traffic because I was out of sequence so I couldn’t get the tyres in properly.”
Looking ahead to the races this weekend, Austria is one of the better tracks to start at the back of the grid since overtaking is very possible.
“It’s going to be a long race. Starting from nearly last… we need a really lucky Feature Race and maybe we can score some points.”
When asked about strategy for the Feature Race, Hadjar didn’t want to rule out the possibility of choosing the alternate option to give him a better chance of points on Sunday.
“Honestly, I’m not so sure that tyre deg would be a thing because we are using the two softest compounds this weekend so we may play a bit with the strategy and obviously make the most of both compounds.”
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited
