Isack Hadjar calls on Red Bull to do better: ‘I would’ve taken the lead easily but had no battery’

Hadjar’s remarkable getaway failed to pay off in Melbourne, though his Red Bull broke down anyway

Isack Hadjar called on Red Bull to “do better” after his lightning-quick getaway in Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix failed to pay off.

Starting from third on the grid after narrowly outqualifing the Ferraris and McLarens in Melbourne, Hadjar’s excellent reaction time meant he challenged polesitter George Russell for the lead within seconds.

However, that challenge was short-lived as the Red Bull driver couldn’t deploy energy the way most of his rivals could; he was swallowed up by Charles Leclerc, then dropped out of the top three when overtaken by Lewis Hamilton further on lap one.

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“The start was amazing – I mean, I started the race with no battery for the launch,” Hadjar commented. “I had a very good launch, I was taking the lead easy. At least that's a good point of the day, we had a very good start.”

“And once I thought, ‘oh, I'm going to take the lead’, no more power – so that was great. You can imagine, for like a couple of laps, I'm spending time to just recover. The engine sounded terrible, so I knew I was not going to finish the race. It's a shame; we'd be in the mix with, I think, Lewis.”

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Pressed on whether the lack of energy deployment at the start was a technical issue or an oversight, Hadjar clarified: “No, it's not a technical issue. It's just we need to do better to avoid this from happening. We didn't manage to simulate it in the whole six days of testing, in free practice as well. Honestly, it's just new scenarios. A race scenario is different. It’s a good experience at least.”

Hadjar’s RB22 broke down on lap 11 after he was passed by Kimi Antonelli and held off Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad. “It's hard to fight someone who's going 30km/h faster than you in the straight,” the Frenchman commented. “That was my only highlight of the day.”

At least Hadjar’s third-place result in qualifying was initial evidence of his potential, after Max Verstappen’s successive team-mates struggled to match him over the past seven years.

“Honestly, I felt great out there,” the sophomore said. “Zero mistakes the whole weekend. I feel very comfortable, and it's a shame. I wish I could be still on track fighting for third. It would be fun.

“Of course, [outperforming my predecessors] gives good confidence, but I never doubted that. I'm here to take those points, be on the podium, and today we went completely wrong. It's early days.”