“It’s simply strange” – Isack Hadjar perplexed by ‘undriveable’ Red Bull F1 vehicle
Isack Hadjar was astonished by the performance of his Red Bull car during the sprint qualifying at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix, unable to articulate the reasons behind his disappointing results.
Hadjar expressed concerns that his RB22 was experiencing excessive bottoming out during the only practice session, where he recorded the fourth-fastest time on hard tyres – even outpacing Max Verstappen – but was seven tenths slower when transitioning to the medium compound.
Significantly, the yellow-walled tyres were set to be utilized in SQ1 and SQ2, where Hadjar trailed his teammate by 0.705s and 0.246s respectively.
In SQ3, using soft tyres for the first time this weekend as required by the regulations, Hadjar clocked a time of 1m32.048s, which was 0.892s off Verstappen’s unmatched top time, before ultimately losing that lap due to a breach of track limits.
“I don’t know,” he stated. “What began as a promising day quickly devolved into a very disappointing performance. I felt quite at ease immediately in FP1, but that was on the hard compound, and that’s about it, really.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing
“I never managed to get a solid lap, to be honest. I’m just battling with the car. I encountered engine problems on my final run. I was really struggling. I don’t know, it’s just strange.”
When asked if he sensed a lack of pace on the soft tyres, Hadjar responded: “No, I can’t say. The soft definitely feels like a significant upgrade over the medium compound. There was much more grip, but it didn’t really change much since everyone else was on softs too, so…
“I don’t know. I just don’t feel like it’s manageable at the moment.”
Hadjar will begin the sprint from ninth position on the grid, while Verstappen will start from pole – a position he found surprising.
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