Hadjar encouraged by first day back in his upgraded Red Bull

Isack Hadjar returned to Red Bull action in Baku on Thursday, smiling that his upgraded car felt "better than when I left it" in Budapest back in July.

Hadjar missed events at Zandvoort, Monza and the all-new Madring track over the last month after injuring his wrist while training in the summer break. He was finally back in the cockpit of his RB22 in Azerbaijan, where Red Bull introduced a host of updates – including to the floor body, diffuser and sidepods.

While he lost valuable track time in FP1 due to a gearbox issue, Hadjar got a healthy number of laps under his belt through FP2, finishing ninth, 1.5 seconds away from pace-setter George Russell and seven tenths behind team mate Max Verstappen.

Why it matters:

Red Bull have activated their option to retain Hadjar for 2027, and this weekend marks his first chance to evaluate the upgraded RB22 ahead of the season's final stretch.

The details:

• Hadjar: "It feels good. It's been a minute, so it was good. I had a good feeling. Not many laps, unfortunately, today, but this will come. I'm not really worried too much about the pace."
• "The feeling… With this new package, we know the characteristic is the same, of the car, but it feels nice. It's better than when I left it in Budapest, so I'm pretty happy!"
• Pierre Wache: "Both cars had the upgrade, and that is quite a good sign for us, to be able to produce and to deliver on track this upgrade." He added that Mercedes appear ahead, with McLaren "a little bit quicker, or similar to us."

What's next:

Hadjar heads into Friday boosted by the news that he will continue as Verstappen's team mate for 2027. With the car feeling better than it did in Budapest, he will be hoping to build on his FP2 pace.