Isack Hadjar says he was “happy with the overall pace” after recovering to P10 from pit lane in Singapore

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Isack Hadjar said he was “happy with the overall pace” after salvaging a point in last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, following a difficult campaign in Marina Bay that began with technical issues for his RB22 and ultimately forced him to start Sunday’s 62-lap race from the pit lane. The Red Bull driver had been unable to post a lap time in Grand Prix Qualifying and was forced to retire from the Sprint when problems surfaced, leaving him with a challenging route back to points for the race.

On Sunday, power unit changes were made, which enabled Hadjar to take the pit lane start. From there, he advanced through the field to finish P10 and claim the last available point, finishing six seconds behind George Russell’s Mercedes. The move for the final spot came in the closing laps, as Hadjar passed Pierre Gasly of Alpine to take the position and the point.

Speaking after the race, Hadjar said he knew the situation could deteriorate further early on, adding: “At some point I was nearly dead last.” He attributed part of the early struggle to being overtaken by Fernando Alonso and to software issues, describing the start as “just a painful start but then we got back to it.”

Hadjar also linked his strong closing performance to his tyre choices and to the way the car responded once he reached usable pace. He said the medium tyre was a “damage limitation” option, noting that he believed it was the weaker compound for the weekend, while the soft tyre was “working really well.” He explained that once he was on the softer compound, he had limited time to run it but was able to push hard: “I had to just be flat-out and I was very fast.”

In his assessment, Hadjar said he did not feel forced into heavy management during the recovery, and that passing opportunities helped him progress back toward the points. “So once I was on it, I didn't have many laps to do on it,” he said, adding: “I was flat-out, not much management and good overtakes.”

Hadjar’s recovery placed him close to the back of the points fight, while also underscoring the reliability concerns Red Bull still faces after a weekend that included an earlier retirement. He recognized the positive outcome from new race-day components, but cautioned that the team does not yet have a fix to prevent similar issues from repeating. “It’s good to have had everything new today during the race,” he said, “At the same time, it's not like we know how to avoid these issues yet.”

With Max Verstappen winning the race, Hadjar acknowledged the pace potential he saw in the final phase, even as he stressed that the team needs to reduce the risk of disruptive technical failures. “We don't have a guarantee this won't happen again,” he said, adding that Red Bull planned “big work” in the following two weeks to investigate and ensure the problems do not return.

Despite the setback from pit lane, Hadjar said his overall performance read positively enough to support optimism ahead of the next rounds. “But honestly, I'm happy with the overall pace. Max is winning, [I had] great pace today from last, so I'm confident for the next couple of races.”