Isack Hadjar believes his reduced Sprint Qualifying gap to Max Verstappen at the Canadian GP is “reassuring” following his top-eight result.

Verstappen and Hadjar will form the fourth row in Montreal, with the Dutchman ahead of the Frenchman by just 0.101s – the smallest Sprint Qualifying time delta between the two thus far.

In China, Verstappen was 0.469s clear, compared to a vast 0.961s in Miami, with Hadjar explaining how he improved throughout the day on Friday to finish just a tenth behind Verstappen in a tricky Red Bull RB22 machine.

“I had a slow build-up, I mean in FP1, I didn’t even get a time on the soft,” Hadjar explained.

“I had poor references, so I was building up slowly, and finally had a good feeling in SQ3 on the soft, and I’m happy with the final lap.

“Also, the gap to my team-mate is closer than Miami, so that is reassuring, but yeah, at the moment, we both don’t have a good feeling in the car.

“We are struggling massively with the bouncing, and the track state is not good, and this is why we are losing a lot of time. Even if the grip is there, we can’t use it.”