“It’s a joke”: Isack Hadjar made no attempt to hide his frustration after the Bahrain Grand Prix, held in Malaysia. The driver called his race disastrous and complained about the way his Red Bull behaved, particularly the lack of battery in the closing laps. He started eighth after an engine penalty, then went through the gravel on the formation lap on a wet track.
Once the race got under way following software problems, Hadjar used intermediate tyres and passed Liam Lawson for fourth on lap six. He then held off Lewis Hamilton for much of the race. George Russell’s retirement moved Hadjar into third, but the Ferraris passed him in the short sprint after the final safety-car period. He eventually finished fifth, nearly four seconds behind Hamilton.
“No pace,” the driver summed up. He also said he could not understand how his car had lost so much competitiveness: “Something was wrong, because I can’t possibly be a second a lap slower now. Even compared with Mercedes, when we were quicker all weekend.” Hadjar described the car as “horrible to drive” and said the issue was on the chassis side. In his view, the power unit was working properly; the drop in battery level during the first two laps after the restart later stabilised.
The Frenchman said the battery shortfall had left him unable to defend against the Ferraris on the straights. “We lose the podium on something so stupid,” he lamented. He also pointed to a lack of grip and a difficult restart, calling the situation “a joke”.
Across the 30 laps run under green-flag conditions, Hadjar lost an average of 0.881 seconds per lap to team-mate Max Verstappen. Verstappen’s victory nevertheless helped Red Bull close on McLaren in the battle for third in the constructors’ championship: the gap narrowed from 76 to 18 points over the last two Grands Prix. Hadjar’s 10 points also contributed to that progress, alongside Verstappen’s 25.
“I’m happy for the boys, but it’s a disaster for me,” he added. Hadjar said he wanted to fix the issue and do better in Singapore.
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Formula 1Starting seventh at Sepang, Russell surged to second before a power-unit failure cost him a podium. “You’ve almost got to laugh,” he said, as the gap to his championship rival widened.
Formula 1Toto Wolff said he was “massively annoyed” and “not in a happy place” after George Russell retired from the Bahrain Grand Prix. A power unit failure forced the Briton to pull over while he appeared on course for a podium.
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