Junior Formula Series
Hadjar & Crawford strong podium drives in Barcelona F3
Jak Crawford and Isack Hadjar moved up to 3rd and 4th in the race for the Formula 3 title
Jak Crawford and Isack Hadjar put in very strong drives in Barcelona, moving up to 3rd and 4th in the race for the Formula 3 title. Both Red Bull Juniors were frustrated though with 17-year-old American Crawford thwarted in his attempts to take the win after a lengthy battle in the Sprint Race and 17-year-old Frenchman Hadjar similarly held to 3rd through Sunday's Feature Race.
WATCH THE F3 Highlights | 2022 Spanish Grand Prix
Hadjar good and knows he should be better
“The result in Qualifying looks good, P4. I think it was a great comeback after a very tough practice session. We missed Pole by 2 tenths, which was clearly there driving wise, so I think I made a big mistake on my lap.”
The car deserved way better than P4 but anyway that's how it was.
“Race 1, I had a terrible launch, so lost 3 places going into Turn 1 starting from 8th. Then I was battling during the lap with Stanek and I got pushed out and lost 3 more places. So I was back to P14.”
“But the pace was really good so I came back to 9th. And then I did a very late mistake which cost me one place. So a tough Race but we knew we had some serious pace.”
Jak Crawford in the pit lane F3 in Spain 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
Jak Crawford racing Formula 3 in Barcelona 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
Jak Crawford pushing hard at F3 in Barcelona 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
Jak Crawford racing the F3 Sprint-Race - Barcelona 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
“Race 2, starting from 4th I really wanted to nail the start, which we did. Going around the outside of Smolyar into Turn 1 was a nice move. Then I wanted to really push the whole race to come back to the lead but I just couldn't. Stanek was just slightly too quick in the last sector so I was never close enough to overtake. I tried like 3 times but it was never enough. So we take the podium and focus on the next one.”
“Overall I would say that for the next one I learnt that I must maximise the performance when the car is there. We had the car to be on Pole and I didn't succeed. That was a shame.”
We need to nail every start we do, we need to avoid incidents like we had in Race 1 and score points in every race.
Crawford happy with pace and points
“It was an OK weekend and I think that I made the most out of what we had. Free Practice went well, immediately up to speed.”
“In the Qualifying, the first run was good, we were on the pace. Second run, I had a bit of traffic in the final sector of the previous lap so I didn't quite have the tyres up to temperature for the push lap. So going into the final run I knew the pace was there and we could fight for Pole.”
“Then in the final run the driver in front of me made a mistake and he kept pushing on with the lap and it cost me about 2 and a half tenths in the final sector which would have put me around the top 4. So that was a real shame because though Pole wasn't probably possible, top 4 maybe top 3.”
“Race 1, starting in 3rd, I made a good start but wasn't able to make any positions. I had really good speed in the beginning, got up into 2nd. Then pushed and attempted to pass for the lead. I went for it but ran out of road, I had a big slide when I rejoined the track and kind of destroyed my tyres and it hurt the car going over the yellow sausages as well so just brought it home for P2.”
Isack Hadjar in the pit lane of the Spanish F3 GP - 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
Isack Hadjar racing F3 in Barcelona - 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
Isack Hadjar had a good weekend in Barcelona racing F3 - 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
Isack Hadjar flying to P3 in the F3 Feature Race - Barcelona 2022
© Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
Some good points because I had an extra point for fastest lap as well.
“Race 2, I made a really good start and a really good first lap. There were a lot of Safety Cars in the race. After one Safety Car I got into 6th and then was just in a DRS train. There wasn't really any degradation because of all the Safety Cars so it was really a shame that it couldn't have played out a bit more because I think I could have gained a few more positions.”
“Overall, despite the poor Qualifying, we only lost 8 points to the championship lead and I think it was a good recovery in both races and good points as well. So I would say I was quite happy with my performance this weekend, we just need to fix the Qualifying.”
RESULTS
Rank
Person
Time
1
R. Stanek (Trident)
1m 33.516s
2
V. Martins (ART)
+0.052s
3
A. Smolyar (MP)
+0.097s
