Speaking to print media after the race, Laurent Mekies reflected on Isack Hadjar’s difficult end to a promising weekend at the 2026 F1 Australian GP, after a battery charge issue on the formation lap compromised the rookie’s start.
The Red Bull driver had shown strong pace from the very beginning in Melbourne and qualified third, putting himself firmly in contention at the front. However, a battery charge issue during the formation lap left him compromised at the start, preventing him from fully capitalising on what had looked like a promising start and race.
Mekies praises Hadjar’s performance despite setback at Albert Park
Laurent Mekies praised Isack Hadjar’s performance across the weekend of the 2026 F1 Australian GP, highlighting how quickly the young driver adapted despite limited testing mileage before the season opener.
“He [Isack Hadjar] did a fantastic weekend,” Mekies said. “Coming here, fairly limited mileage in testing, with a bit of lack of luck there, and he came here from the very first lap, FP1, Friday, on the right pace.
“We were able to split the testing programme between the cars, get double the amount of information. He went to qualifying with everything, that means a first time qualifying with these rules, absolutely nailed it. Put the car in P3, which is probably as high as it could have been on Saturday.”
The Frenchman’s race, however, quickly became complicated once the battery issue surfaced before the start. According to Mekies, Hadjar had been in position to fight for P5 had the problem not occurred. He was in that position when the car broke down.
“So, hats off, really and today, he was on his way to have a mega start before he realised we didn’t have the battery charge and I think the pace would have been good enough to fight with the McLaren.”
Red Bull and Mekies accept responsibility for battery issue at 2026 Australian GP
Mekies admitted that the team had misjudged the battery management procedures required during the formation lap under the current regulations. He made it clear the responsibility rested with the team rather than the driver.
“It’s our responsibility to avoid that situation. We have been caught by some limitations of the way you can charge and discharge the battery in the formation lap. If we are the only ones who have been caught by that, it means that we have not done a very good job. So, it’s what it is.”
The unusual driving patterns required to warm tyres and brakes during the formation lap ultimately left the team unable to bring the battery charge to the required level for the race start.
“Basically, with the unusual behaviours that drivers need to have on a formation lap, with acceleration, braking, acceleration, braking to warm your brakes, to warm your tyres, etc, we ended up in a point where we were unable anymore to get to the right state of charge for the race start.”
As a result, Hadjar had to spend the opening lap rebuilding battery charge instead of attacking at the front of the field.
“We had to build up that battery level through the first lap, which obviously was not enjoyable.”
