Isack Hadjar has had better F1 races than the 2026 Japanese GP of last weekend. Starting in eighth, the Red Bull Racing driver suffered from energy deployment woes early in the race. To add insult to injury, he was stuck behind rookie Arvid Lindblad through the first stint, eventually resulting in a 12th place at the finish.
Lindblad being an “idiot” just one of many issues
The young Frenchman had some cross words for the Racing Bulls driver, calling him an “idiot” over team radio. When asked about the Brit in the print media pen, Hadjar shrugged off the incident.
“Well, this is not even 1% of how bad this race was,” Hadjar explained. “So it’s no big deal.”
His race had already started with a fight with team mate Max Verstappen, which saw Hadjar lose an additional place to compatriot Esteban Ocon. Even worse was a lack of ‘state of charge’ (SOC), which left him down on power in his pursuit of Pierre Gasly.
“It’ s just we need to understand why that battery situation and so early. I mean, I was comfortable in eighth.
“The plan was to fight Pierre, which we were doing, and it all faded away with an empty battery. You’re just powerless.”
Hadjar excused Lindblad’s actions in the end, emphasising that F1’s sole rookie this season is still young. However, the fight did cost both of them quite a lot of time, eventually leading to them finishing outside of the points. To add insult to injury, Hadjar is directly behind Lindblad in the standings.
“He lets Max through, defends against me, so…” Hadjar sighed.
“It makes sense for him. But yeah, that was not very useful for both of us. But it’s OK, he’s young.”
Hadjar: RB22 “terrible” on the chassis side of things in 2026 F1 Japanese GP
Like Verstappen, Hadjar is not having the best time right now in F1. Both Red Bull Racing drivers struggled with the RB22 during the Japanese GP weekend, leaving Hadjar not only to struggle with Lindblad, but also puzzled as to how to improve the car.
“The only positive right now is that I can drive the car fast,” he explains. “But we have no lead on how we can make the car faster.”
When pressed on whether the chassis or the power unit is the culprit for Red Bull Racing’s woes, the Frenchman was clear: it’s the chassis.
“No, we have a good power unit,” he said. “Engine’s good. Everything is just… The chassis side is terrible. Just slow in the corners for once.”
