Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar finished P7 in the F1 2026 Mexico City GP Qualifying. The Frenchman was shocked by how fast his car was, given it was “so difficult to drive”.
Hadjar climbed to P2 in Q1 having used a second new set of softs, but fell back to P6 in Q2 and set a final time of 1:16.900 for Q3. Although within the +0.5 gap to pole, the Red Bull driver claimed he struggled with this RB22.
Isack Hadjar says the Red Bull is “too difficult” to drive
During the last Qualifying session for the F1 2026 Mexico City GP, Isack Hadjar had a lock-up in Turn 13 which ended his first lap. When asked how tricky the car was to drive, he insisted: “Too difficult.
“It’s too difficult because in Turn 13 it’s like we’re locking up, but in Turn 12 we have the opposite scenario, we’re locking the rears.
“So you’re basically compromising your braking performance for both corners, you have to find a compromise,” explained the Frenchman. “And when you actually push, you lock up everything. It’s so difficult, it’s just so difficult to drive.”
“I can’t believe how fast the car is” despite the issues, says Hadjar
On whether there is a disconnect between the fron and the rear of the car, Hadjar claimed: “Honestly, yeah. It’s surprising.
“Honestly, I can’t believe how fast the car is, considering how bad the lap is, considering all the balance issues we have. The car is just so fast. I’m not even four tenths away from pole, and the lap is horrific.”
Still he highlighted: “It’s good, it’s good news. The car is strong, it’s just we need to keep working around that balance. I feel like even we had a step down compared to yesterday. But the car is just fast.”
Hadjar’s outlook for the F1 2026 Mexico City GP
Last weekend, Isack Hadjar faced some troubles during the start of the f1 2026 United Stated GP. Despite starting third at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), the Frenchman finished sixth after struggling with clutch problems and falling behind as the lights went out. When asked whether he remained confident that Red Bull could resolve its starting difficulties before the end of the season, Hadjar had just responded: “No, I’m not confident.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, where the start is massively important ahead of the long run to Turn 1, Hadjar stated he was slightly more hopeful.
“I hope so, but we tried very hard this weekend. Unfortunately, FP1, we didn’t get much running, we got no practice start. We had some decent ones this morning.
“I have an OK feeling. Let’s see tomorrow, we’re going to need it,” he concluded.
