Hadjar: Honestly, it was a nightmare... I'm really proud of me

Hadjar got through the first Q1 phase, his Racing Bull running wide at one point on track, and jumped out of the car as soon as he could after complaining about the situation over the team radio. A problem with the seatbelts it transpired.

The Racing Bulls crew fixed the problem and Hadjar went on to the final top 10 shootout. He told Sky F1 afterwards: "It was a nightmare, man. Honestly, it was... I'm really proud of me. The lap I did in Q1, with what I had, unbelievable. I realised straight in Turn 3. I was like, OK this is not going well. I nearly crashed, actually. But I'm OK."

The 20-year-old, who crashed on the formation lap on his debut in Australia last month and has yet to score a point, has now qualified P7 for the last two races and Saturday's position put him ahead of his hero Lewis Hamilton.

"Yeah, not bad. What a journey," the 2024 Formula 2 runner-up said of Ferrari's seven times world champion being alongside in eighth position on the starting grid. Every lap we made, we made a nice improvement with the balance, with the settings.

"Honestly, the car just came alive that final lap. And it was a fantastic lap, to be honest. Couldn't have gone much faster. So I'm just having fun... the car is just fast. So, if it's easy to drive as well, then, no doubt, I can deliver," declared Hadjar.

His new Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson, the New Zealander demoted from Red Bull in a straight swap with Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda, will start P17.