A race to forget for Isack Hadjar

Written by Axelle Vallière
A race to forget for Isack Hadjar
Credit: Overtake Agency

Despite a brilliant qualifying performance with a car that had been uncooperative since the start of the season, Isack Hadjar endured a nightmare race, plagued by technical issues and a severe lack of pace.

By securing an 8th-place grid spot after beating out his teammate, Hadjar had, however, gotten his weekend off to a perfect start. A performance all the more remarkable given that his car, slow and unstable since the start of the season, offers him few opportunities to shine.

But from the very first meters of the race, everything went wrong. “I had no battery,” he said, frustrated. Deprived of power, the Frenchman was immediately overtaken. “I'm getting passed on the straights—it's so frustrating,” he insisted, summing up the helplessness he felt on the track.

An unmanageable car

Beyond that botched start, the verdict is clear. “We didn't have a good pace. We expected that, but it was worse than the rest of the weekend.” Already limited, the car quickly became uncontrollable. “It was truly undriveable—even dangerous,” Hadjar states, pointing to a car that was impossible to use over the long haul.

In this context, it was hard to hope for anything better than just surviving. “There were some good battles with the Audis; that was cool,” he concedes, as a meager consolation prize in a race that was a struggle from start to finish.

Understanding to avoid a repeat

Now it's time to learn from this, especially regarding those decisive first laps. “I need to understand what happened in the first two laps with the battery,” he explains, aware that this incident sealed his fate for the race.

The one-month break comes at just the right time to bounce back. “There are updates coming. We're going to test them, work on the simulator, and figure out what happened this weekend.” This groundwork is essential if he hopes to get out of this rut.

Red Bull, meanwhile, is staying in Japan for testing early next week. Strategist Isack Hadjar “hopes it rains on Tuesday and Wednesday so we can drive in those conditions and get a bit of a head start on the others.”