Isack Hadjar said he feels more confident in his performance as Campos Racing topped the Formula 2 in-season testing charts in Barcelona.
The Red Bull Junior Driver claimed his first victory of the season in Australia with a Feature Win after a penalty in the Sprint toppled him down the ranks.
With fellow Red Bull Junior Josep María Martí, Campos Racing topped the timesheets throughout all three days of testing around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
He said: “Since the beginning of the season, and following on from a really good weekend in Melbourne, If we look at raw pace I don’t think we are the quickest, but we are among the best.
“It gives you a lot of confidence and I’ve had this feeling since day one with the team. When I jump in the car, I’m fighting up front, so that’s a really good thing to have as a driver.
“It feels like how it should be basically, which is rare in high-level sports, I would say our plan is working and it feels amazing, you know? The confidence is back, I feel like driving much better now. My head is a bit clearer, I’m not really doubting anything from the team, and I can go on track and just deliver.”
Taking turns setting the fastest times, Hadjar and Martí improved greatly on last season’s best test times with nearly a full second of improvement.
As of 2024, the next generation of Formula 2 cars was launched with an improvement in speed, weight, sustainability and more.
Despite uncertainties around the new gen of cars, Campos Racing sits 18 points behind the Championship leaders Rodin Motorsport ahead of the fourth round in Imola.
Hadjar is closing the gap to the top three in the Driver’s Standings, just seven points behind the third-placed driver Dennis Hauger.
Setting the overall fastest time of 1:23.139, Hadjar feels that the three days of testing have given him confidence ahead of the next round.
Formula 2’s testing schedule has changed since last season, now sitting after the first three rounds ahead of the European leg.
The structural shift provides teams with another, more crucial, opportunity to gather up-to-date data as well as utilise their pre-existing data from the first three rounds.
Both Hadjar and Martí claimed that Campos Racing has utilised this opportunity to better understand the new-gen car.
Martí said: “We think we’ve understood the philosophy of this new car and what it needs quite well, We have a car that’s fast across the three tracks so far and on four different compounds, so that’s a positive for sure.
“We know that if we go out on track with our setup, it will be decent, and we’ll be up there. We have a good baseline but it’s a matter of being a little bit ambitious. I think there are teams that, maybe don’t have the upper hand on us, but are on equal terms with us right now. We want to pull ahead, that’s the target, and so we’re working on that.”
The drivers look ahead to the next round in Imola on the 17-19th of May.
