The Formula 1 Japanese GP was another chapter of difficulties for Red Bull Racing, with Isack Hadjar classifying the car as ‘impossible to drive’ and even ‘dangerous’ during the race in Suzuka. The French driver finished only in 12th position after facing several problems throughout the race.
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The situation was especially frustrating because Hadjar had started in eighth and had good expectations to fight for points. However, he lost three positions in the first two laps and saw his chances disappear quickly, mainly after problems with the battery.
Commenting on the result, the young driver stated that the race was even worse than it appeared: “It doesn’t even reach 1% of how bad this race was. I need to understand why this battery situation happened so early. I was comfortable in eighth. The plan was to fight with Pierre (Gasly from Alpine), and that’s what we were doing, but everything disappeared with the empty battery. Then you run out of power,” he stated.
Even after falling to 11th, Hadjar still maintained chances of scoring points, but faced resistance from Arvid Lindblad, a rookie from Racing Bulls. The youngster received a black and white flag for changing trajectory during braking before the chicane, a situation that Hadjar evaluated with caution: “It wasn’t very helpful for either of us, but it’s okay, he’s young,” he commented.
The race was also hampered by strategy, as Hadjar stopped before the safety car came out and ended up falling to 13th. Even so, he managed to recover by overtaking Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, both from Audi, returning to the fight with the Audi cars, before being overtaken again by the German driver and finishing in 12th.
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The Frenchman stated that the lack of pace was already expected, but the performance was worse than throughout the weekend: “We didn’t have good pace anyway. This was expected, but it was worse than at the start of the weekend. It was really impossible to drive, it even became dangerous. It was complicated,” he added.
With the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, Formula 1 will have a five-week break, but Hadjar did not show optimism for this period. The driver highlighted that there is still no clear direction to improve the car’s performance.
Hadjar has reasons to be disappointed with Red Bull Racing’s current performance, as he has scored only four points in the first three stages of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
Read more F1: Hadjar laments lack of pace after P12 in Suzuka
