Isack Hadjar has labelled his Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia struggles as a “joke”, having experienced curious struggles with his Red Bull Formula 1 car on Sunday.
Starting from eighth on the grid due to an engine penalty, Hadjar’s day was tricky from the get-go as he suffered a trip through the gravel on the initial formation lap, on a wet track.
The Frenchman made the most of intermediate tyres when the race finally got under way following software shenanigans, passed Liam Lawson for fourth on lap six and maintained that position from then on, despite pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the latter third of the race.
Hadjar therefore inherited third position when George Russell retired on lap 50 but, in the four-lap sprint that followed the last safety car period, he couldn’t hold off the Ferraris and ended up down in fifth, nearly four seconds adrift of Hamilton.
“No pace,” the Red Bull driver rued. “Something was wrong, because… I can’t possibly be a second a lap slower now. Even compared to the Mercedes, you know? The whole weekend we were quicker. And now, in the race, we’re absolutely nowhere. The car was horrible to drive.
“Just the last couple of laps, I don’t know how we ended up having no battery. So, in the straights, I can’t defend against the Ferraris, so we lose the podium on something so stupid.”
Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Over the 30-lap period in green-flag conditions, Hadjar lost 0.881s to team-mate Max Verstappen on average.
Asked if his lack of pace was part of the degradation problem that has been occasionally seen on Red Bull’s RB22 or linked to the power unit, Hadjar said: “No, on the chassis side. Power unit was fine, it’s just the first two laps of the restart, I don’t know why we were so down on battery. Then it stabilised itself and then I was fast again. Otherwise, I would have kept third.
“I don’t know, just the grip. Even behind the safety car, I was feeling that I had no grip and it was going to be a tough restart for me. It felt like I was always on the same tyres. I came back on the run-one compound, so… It’s a joke.
“The whole weekend, I was pretty fast, so… We need to fix the issue, come back in Singapore and do better.”
At least Red Bull clinched its first grand prix victory of the season with Max Verstappen, but when this was brought up to Hadjar, he was struggling to see the positives.
“Yeah, but you know, it’s not a good day for me,” he responded. “I’m happy for the boys, but it’s a disaster for me.”
Hadjar’s 10 points, on top of Verstappen’s 25, still contributed to Red Bull closing in on McLaren for third place in the constructors’ championship, with the gap reduced from 76 to 18 points over the last two rounds.
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