Hadjar: Le Petit Prost nickname because I bite my nails

Hadjar, a French F1 driver with Algerian roots, has been given this nickname after France's four-time F1 champion, Alain Prost, who himself carries the nickname "Professor".

While it may be too soon to see whether Hadjar can emulate his great countryman, early signs show that he deserves his seat in F1 after delivering impressive performances so far despite his shaky start after crashing on the formation lap of the season opener in F1.

"Where does it come from? Everyone asks me this, but I have no idea," Hadjar quipped when asked why he is being called Le Petit Prost.

"I think it comes from the fact that I bite my nails. That's what Helmut [Marko] told me, anyway. He said I do it like Prost. So it's not because I look like him. I don't know if I have the same voice, or the same face. No idea. But I think it comes from doing this.

"But I'm really happy with the nickname, because it's Prost. A legend. I just hope it's not a bad thing for him, to be associated with my name! I hope he's not mad!" the Racing Bulls rookie maintained.

Hadjar went on revealing details of his experience with Marko during his time in the Red Bull junior driver program, as the Austrian is known for being ruthless with his drivers.

But the 20-year-old painted a different picture; he said: "With me, it was not as bad as with some of the other guys. We have an honest relationship and, honestly, I had more laughs with him than anything else.

"He has never been rude to me. Even when I had my awful first F2 season, he kept me in the programme," Hadjar pointed out.

He went on revealing that Marko was far from harsh after that crash in Melbourne. He said: "He didn't care about my crash.

"This kind of thing, it can happen to anyone. He was not mad or anything. He was just like: 'OK, we'll be better in China'. That was it," Hadjar concluded.

(Quotes from Motorsport.com)