Hadjar Explodes Over Red Bull’s Reliability: “I’m Very Frustrated”

Isack Hadjar experienced a calvary in the Singapore Grand Prix qualifying, the French Red Bull driver was forced to abandon the session without having set a representative time due to a gearbox failure in his RB22, which will force him to start from the last position in Sunday's race. A situation that Hadjar himself did not hesitate to describe as "really frustrating" after a weekend marked by reliability problems.

"What's funny is that I felt good in sector 1, until at turn 8 I broke the gearbox, basically. That's it, I tried... I don't even know why we kept going, the car was absolutely damaged. I knew it was the end but I didn't want to stop on track so I kept taking the car back to the garage" Hadjar explained after the session. The Frenchman who had thanked the team on the radio for the work done to repair the car before qualifying, saw how his hopes vanished in a matter of minutes.

"It was being annoying but honestly, I just long to be out there on track, driving and giving the best of myself. Now I'm really frustrated because we've had problems in every session except FP1" he added. Hadjar who had already lost a possible podium in Malaysia due to a battery problem and who retired from the Singapore Sprint due to another mechanical failure, did not hide his disappointment: "I'm going to give the best of myself, I think Carlos Sainz last year started around position 18 and finished tenth or something like that. I still want to push and bring points, but I just... I like qualifying, the adrenaline and when I can't have it, I'm really furious" he sentenced.

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull boss, assumed responsibility for Hadjar's bad luck: "We need to send a good apology to Isack, really, we didn't give him any chance to express his speed this weekend. Fortunately it doesn't happen very often but it has been particularly frustrating this weekend: a power unit problem this morning in the Sprint and a gearbox problem this afternoon in qualifying. It's so frustrating because it's one of the races where the qualifying position is particularly important, but we will fight with him tomorrow from the back of the grid to bring him back to the points" Mekies declared.

The contrast with his teammate, Max Verstappen, could not be more pronounced. The Dutchman achieved the 50th pole position of his career in Formula 1, demonstrating that the RB22 has the necessary speed to compete at the front at Marina Bay. Hadjar however will have to settle for a comeback race from the last position on a circuit where overtaking is especially complicated.

Hadjar faces Sunday's race with his morale intact despite the setbacks. The Frenchman knows that coming back from the back of the grid at Marina Bay is a titanic task but trusts in the RB22's pace and the team's strategy to take advantage of any opportunity, every point counts in the fight for the championship and Hadjar is determined to fight until the last lap.

The Frenchman, despite the frustration, is determined not to give up and to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself to score points and help the team in the fight for the constructors' championship.