For Isack Hadjar, three races on the sidelines could have made Baku a daunting place to restart his Formula 1 campaign.
Instead, the Frenchman emerged from the Azerbaijan capital with a podium, a sizeable confidence boost and the feeling that he had finally put together the kind of weekend he had been waiting for.
Hadjar had missed the previous three Grands Prix after suffering a wrist injury during F1’s summer break and made his return to the grid at one the sport’s most unforgiving venues.
Yet rather than charge back into the fray, the Red Bull driver deliberately eased himself into the weekend. And that restraint proved remarkably effective.
Hadjar outqualified Max Verstappen to secure a place on the second row before converting it into third in Saturday’s race.
His route to the podium was helped by Oscar Piastri’s late lock-up, but Hadjar’s performance was built on a weekend in which he avoided the walls, managed his comeback sensibly and extracted everything available from the RB22.
A cautious return that delivered
The result was all the more satisfying for the 21-year-old because of how deliberately he approached it. He admitted the timing of his comeback could hardly have been better, both in terms of his recovery and the performance available from his car.
“Yeah, I must say comeback at the right time in terms of injury point of view and at the same time in terms of what the car is capable of,” he said after the race.
There was also unfinished business from his last appearance in Budapest, where the Frenchman had left the car feeling less than satisfied.
Baku offered an opportunity to put that disappointment behind him, although Hadjar was determined not to allow enthusiasm to override common sense on a circuit where the slightest misjudgment can have immediate consequences.
“The way I left the car in Budapest, I was not really satisfied. And coming back now after a couple of races, definitely made a step.
“So yeah, definitely happy about that. And in terms of the approach, I took it really, really slowly the whole weekend because it’s a demanding track to come back to. I don’t want to be in the wall.
Read also: Verstappen doubts better grid spot could have denied Russell“And yeah, like I said, it’s a tough track to come back to. The approach was great. It brought me to that P3.
“So yeah, I can’t really do much better than that.”
A podium that feels different
Hadjar’s third place also carries particular weight because of the circumstances surrounding his first F1 podium in Monaco. Although he ultimately regained the position from Pierre Gasly following a lengthy appeal process, the Frenchman does not view that result in quite the same light.
Baku, by contrast, felt like something he had genuinely earned through his own pace and execution.
He qualified inside the top four, beat Verstappen over a full qualifying session and then held his nerve through a race repeatedly interrupted by safety-car drama.
That distinction clearly mattered to him when asked whether the result would carry confidence into the next round.
“Yeah, a lot,” he said. “You know, in the end, the Monaco podium, of course, it was a podium, but it was not on pure pace, not because I qualified on the top three or whatever.
“You know, I felt like, you know, like this is my first time with the team that I actually get to do a very clean weekend and actually like fight my way into that podium.”
“So actually, for me, it feels like a real first. And yeah, it gives me good confidence heading into the next races.”
After three frustrating weekends watching from the sidelines, Hadjar could hardly have scripted a more convincing return.
The podium may have required a little help from Piastri’s misfortune, but the confidence behind it was unmistakably his own.
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