Hadjar opens up on his "mixed feelings" after Silverstone qualifying

Isack Hadjar bounced back from a frustrating Sprint race to produce one of the standout performances of qualifying at Silverstone, securing fifth on the grid for the British Grand Prix and out-qualifying Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen for the first time since Suzuka.

The Red Bull driver endured a difficult start to Saturday's Sprint, losing several positions off the line before spending much of the race fighting his way back through the field.

He overtook Pierre Gasly and Arvid Lindblad to climb into ninth and closed in on Liam Lawson in the battle for the final points-paying position, but ultimately ran out of time to make the move.

Reflecting on the Sprint, Hadjar admitted it had been a frustrating start to the day: "I have mixed feelings about the Sprint. We struggled with the start again and dropped a few places, so had to spend the race getting those back.

"The race pace wasn't all there but I managed a few overtakes and was close to getting back into the points," the Frenchman continued.

Hadjar transformed his fortunes later in the afternoon with an outstanding qualifying performance. Feeling comfortable in the car throughout the session, the Frenchman steadily improved with each run before posting a lap of 1:28.746 to secure fifth on the grid—his best qualifying result since Monaco.

Although pleased with the result, Hadjar believes there was still more lap time available despite pushing to the limit on his final run.

"Onto Qualifying and I'm definitely happy with how it went. I felt very comfortable in the car throughout the session and we improved with every run.

On the last run, I went all in and ended up with a bit too much sliding, so I think there was a little more lap time on the table. P5 was probably the maximum result we could have achieved, so we will take it."»

Looking ahead to Sunday's race, Hadjar expects Red Bull to be in the mix with McLaren as he targets another strong points finish.

"We're still missing the pure performance to compete with Mercedes and Ferrari, but tomorrow we'll be in the fight with both McLarens and hopefully bring home some solid points."