Isack Hadjar admitted that he was surprised by the performance of his Racing Bulls car after securing his first ever podium in Formula 1 at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The French-Algerian racer put in the good work on Saturday, placing his VCARB 02 on the second row of the grid alongside Red Bull's Max Verstappen after a superb lap during Qualifying.
From there, the rookie consolidated his position near the head of the field, stalking behind the likes of Lando Norris and Verstappen for a spot on the podium.
A place in the top three looked unlikely until lap 65, when Norris' McLaren went up in smoke and forced a retirement for the Championship contender. This allowed Hadjar to move up into P3 where he remained until the chequered flag.
Hadjar secured 15 valuable points for himself and Racing Bulls, moving up to P10 in the Drivers' standings.
Speaking to media after the Grand Prix, Hadjar admitted that a podium didn't seem likely coming into the weekend.
He said: "Yeah, I mean, outstanding day, did not expect that waking up this morning; I was being very realistic.
"I knew there was George behind me and both Ferraris. I also didn’t run on Friday, any long run. So I didn’t have a clue really. So yeah, to cross the line third is just unreal.
"I knew it would be very hard to fight Ferrari and Mercedes, but yeah, it’s more like towards the last 20 laps, I was like, ‘OK, if anything happens at the front, then I’m in an opposing position.’ And then when Lando had the issue, I knew I was going to finish third," added the 21-year-old.
It wasn't a comfortable nor straightforward race for Hadjar, who was forced to put up stout defensive displays against the likes of Charles Leclerc and George Russell during the 72-lap event.
On this, he continued: "Yeah, it was very tricky. Thankfully, I had an OK start to keep fourth.
"And from there, like on the opening laps, I knew Charles would be trying to go for the move, which he did.
"I was really comfortable. And on the brakes, I made sure I defended the right way.
"And that’s what we did. Then once I was holding him for a while, I actually realised that, ‘OK, we had the car pace to fight for big points.’
"And towards the end of the race, I was like, ‘OK, if anything happens at the front, actually, I’m on a podium finish position,'" Hadjar concluded.
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