“It’s just weird” – Isack Hadjar confused by ‘undriveable’ Red Bull F1 car

Isack Hadjar was left dumbfounded by his Red Bull car in sprint qualifying at Formula 1’s Singapore Grand Prix, unable to explain his lack of performance.

Hadjar complained that his RB22 was bottoming out too much in the only free practice session, where he was fourth-fastest on hard rubber – quicker than Max Verstappen – but seven tenths down on the Dutchman when they switched to the medium compound.

Crucially, the yellow-walled tyres were going to be used in SQ1 and SQ2, where Hadjar’s deficit to his team-mate was 0.705s and 0.246s respectively.

Taking on soft tyres for the first time of the weekend in SQ3 – as per the regulations – Hadjar lapped in 1m32.048s, which was 0.892s slower than Verstappen’s unmatched benchmark, before the Frenchman lost that time to a track-limit breach anyway.

“I don't know,” he said. “It's just, what seemed like a good start of the day turned into a very poor performance. I felt very comfortable straight away in FP1, but on the hard compound, and that was it, really.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images

“I never got to have a good lap, really. I'm just fighting with the car. I had engine issues on the last run. I was just struggling. I don't know, it's just weird.”

Asked if he immediately felt like he didn’t have pace on soft tyres, Hadjar replied: “No, I don't know. The soft definitely feels like a huge step to the medium compound. It was a lot more grip, but it didn't really matter anyway, all the other guys are on the soft as well, so…

“I don't know. I just don't feel like it's drivable right now.”

Hadjar will start the sprint from ninth on the grid, with Verstappen on pole position – and surprised to be.

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