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Isack Hadjar had one of the most frustrating afternoons of his young Formula 1 career in Japan. The Red Bull driver says the RB22 was not just slow at Suzuka. He says it was dangerous.
A Race That Fell Apart Early
Hadjar qualified eighth and came to Japan with reasonable expectations of points. What he got was a race defined by a sudden battery failure that stripped him of all performance at the worst possible moment. He dropped from a comfortable eighth to eleventh and could not recover after the safety car period, eventually finishing twelfth.
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He was clear about what happened when speaking to the international media. "It is not even one percent of how bad this race was. So it is not a disaster. I just need to understand why those battery problems appeared so early. Because I was comfortable in eighth place. The plan was to fight with Pierre, and we were doing that, and then everything just disappeared because of a flat battery. And then you are simply powerless."
"Really, Really Undriveable"
The conversation with Canal+ was even more direct. Hadjar did not shy away from describing just how bad the car felt. "We had no good pace to begin with. That was expected, but it was worse than earlier in the weekend. It was really, really undriveable. It was even dangerous. So that was difficult." He offered one small positive while making clear the team has no obvious path forward. "The only positive is that I can push hard right now. But we have no idea how to make the car faster."
A Difficult Start to His F1 Career
Hadjar has now had three difficult weekends with Red Bull. His debut qualifying session in Australia was genuinely impressive, producing a third-place time, but a retirement meant no points. China brought four points. Japan brought nothing. He sits twelfth in the championship, eight points behind Verstappen. The raw speed is clearly there. The machinery is not currently giving him any way to use it.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
I. Hadjar
A. Antonelli
C. Leclerc
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