FP2 of the 2026 F1 Austrian GP left Isack Hadjar and Red Bull with plenty to analyse overnight after “struggling a lot” with balance issues and a Turn 3 problem, preventing the team from fully assessing its latest upgrade package.
Speaking after the Friday running at the Red Bull Ring, Isack Hadjar and Technical Director Pierre Waché both acknowledged there is still significant work to do ahead of qualifying.
Red Bull’s balance concerns
Hadjar endured a frustrating Friday as Red Bull continued to search for the right balance with its updated car package. While the Frenchman felt improvements arrived between FP1 and FP2, he admitted the RB21 remains far from where the team wants it to be.
He said: “I didn’t like it. It felt way better in FP2, so that’s good news. But it’s not where we want to be. At least it’s a lot easier to drive, so the performance should come tomorrow a bit easier than usual.”
The Red Bull driver added that the car remains difficult to optimise, saying “the car is definitely not where we want it set up.”
Turn 3 issue frustrates the drivers
One of the biggest talking points from 2026 Austrian GP was a recurring issue at Turn 3, with both Hadjar and Max Verstappen reporting problems through the slow right-hander.
Hadjar explained that the rear tyres behave unpredictably at the apex, making it difficult to judge available grip. The Frenchman said: “It’s like the rears are grabbing, locking up and you lose all the support. It’s not a linear grip, it’s not nice. So you’re constantly guessing the grip.”
The issue continues when the driver returns to the throttle.
“And then once you go back on throttle, the engine has to catch up and it creates wheelspin on exit. So it’s really, really poor,” he added.
Although he could not quantify the exact time loss, Hadjar made it clear the problem is hurting performance.
“Just in this corner, I don’t know how much we’re losing, but it really feels bad.”
Upgrade package proving difficult to evaluate
Red Bull introduced a significant upgrade package in Austria, but Hadjar admitted the team has struggled to unlock its potential because of ongoing balance concerns.
He admitted there’s a lot to do tonight: “So far, it just seems like it’s hard to extract the most of it because we’re completely off balance and we’re struggling a lot. So there’s a lot of digging to do tonight.”
Waché explains Red Bull’s challenge
Red Bull F1 Technical Director, Pierre Waché, echoed Hadjar’s assessment and explained why major upgrades often require time before teams can understand their full impact.
Speaking after FP2, he said: “Every time you change a lot the car, the characteristics are changing a little bit, the balance is changing.”
According to the Frenchman, Red Bull must now determine how the revised package reacts to setup changes and driver inputs.
“Then you have to see how the sensitivity of each setup element is playing a role in the request from the driver and what is the need for them. Then it’s clearly something that we have to learn from P2 and try to improve for P3 and quali,” he continued.
Waché also admitted the team was carrying an issue from FP1, which he didn’t want to disclose. “We had an unfortunate issue in P1, and creating some less running time, I would say. I don’t want to disclose because I think it’s not fair to the system. You know, everybody’s pushing from the factory, you know, when you are pushing, and you change so much, after the standard aspect starts to be also an issue.”
The Technical Director also confirmed the team has identified the Turn 3 problem. He said: “Yeah, we clearly have an issue there on how we manage the engine there and how the car is operating. Then it’s something that we have to fix or not, try to go away with.”
Positive signs despite unanswered questions
While the FP2 session of the 2026 F1 Austrian GP did not provide all the answers Red Bull wanted, Waché believes the new package is already showing encouraging signs.
“Not fully. I know that what we see is clearly a better package than what we had previously in terms of weight, in terms of downforce.”
However, he cautioned that a full assessment will only follow further overnight analysis. “But to see exactly in terms of level of downforce how we achieve, we will be more during the night and tomorrow morning,” he added.
Despite the challenges, Red Bull remained firmly in the mix during the F1 2026 Austrian GP weekend. Verstappen secured fourth place in the session, while Hadjar finished ninth as the team continued working through balance concerns and the Turn 3 issue.
