Racing
© Jonathan Borba
After qualifying eighth at Suzuka, Isack Hadjar said the Red Bull RB22 was “really, really undriveable” and “dangerous” after an early battery deployment failure left the car short of power, costing him several positions and a 12th-place finish.
The rookie showed pace in qualifying and beat Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen to line up eighth. The promise did not last in the race. Hadjar lost ground in the opening laps and never recovered into the points. He crossed the line in 12th and left with no reward for his Saturday speed.
Hadjar said an energy deployment problem hit early. The battery emptied on the straights and out of slow corners. He lost three places in the first two laps as the car would not respond when he needed power. That ended his plan to fight for points, including a planned battle with Pierre Gasly. Each time he pressed the pedal, the car sometimes had nothing to give. He called it the difference between racing in the pack and falling back.
He also described a handling slide over the weekend. The RB22 felt worse with each session. He said the chassis is slow in corners and the balance moved away from him. The car felt uncontrollable at times and even dangerous in high-speed turns. He could still set quick laps in clear air, but he does not see a clear way to make the package faster. He said there is no direction that gives consistent grip and confidence from entry to exit. The feedback points to problems that are not only about power deployment.
Race events did not help. Red Bull called Hadjar in for a stop that came just before the safety car. The timing cost track position when rivals gained a cheap stop. On track, he was pulled into tight battles that slowed his pace. He also clashed with rookie Arvid Lindblad, who received a black-and-white flag for driving standards during their fight. Hadjar made clear those moments were secondary. He said the battery issue and the handling problems set the tone and decided his day.
The comments add to concerns around the RB22’s speed and reliability. Red Bull has faced early-season issues that have limited results. Hadjar’s Suzuka run fits that trend. The car showed one-lap speed in qualifying, then fell away in traffic and under race loads. Loss of energy deployment meant he could not defend or attack into the heavy braking zones. Weakness in cornering made tire management harder and widened the gap to the midfield pack.
The result leaves Hadjar on four points from the first three rounds. It is a modest return for a driver who has shown pace over one lap. He said he can drive the car fast in bursts, but the underlying tools to race are not there yet. With the battery problem early and the handling issues that built across the weekend, Suzuka turned into damage control. The 12th-place finish was the ceiling once the power unit stopped deploying as planned.
A five-week break now looms after cancellations in the calendar. That gap offers time to analyze but gives little clarity on what fixes will reach the car soon. Red Bull must chase both reliability and driveability to avoid more lost points. Hadjar’s words from Suzuka set the agenda. The RB22 needs stable energy deployment and a cornering step to turn qualifying pace into race results.