Isack Hadjar Urges Red Bull to Reset Power Unit After Singapore Grid Collapse

Red Bull Racing is facing two very different realities at the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix. While Max Verstappen managed to claim pole position for Sunday’s main event, his team-mate Isack Hadjar endured a severe mechanical crisis under the floodlights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

After a terminal power unit failure ended his Sprint race on Saturday, the Red Bull mechanics undertook a frantic overhaul of the engine components before the evening qualifying session. Unfortunately, the quick fix did not withstand the demands of the session.

During Q1, Hadjar signaled to the pit wall that his engine had cut out, leaving him to coast back to the garage. On a following lap attempt, he lost all gear selection due to a secondary gearbox malfunction. As a result, the French driver failed to set a competitive time and officially qualified last in 22nd place – though he will actually start 21st due to a mandatory engine penalty previously applied to Mercedes driver George Russell.

“I Just Want to Race”

When asked by Sky Sports F1 presenter Craig Slater whether understanding that the gearbox failure was not his fault made the disastrous result easier to accept, Hadjar bluntly dismissed the notion.

“No, I want to drive. Honestly, I don’t care about P22. I just want to get out there and do my thing. Get to it,” Hadjar stated.

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images

Hadjar is visibly frustrated about losing valuable track time, believing his car possesses the underlying speed to advance through the qualifying elimination rounds.

“I have plenty of soft tyres in the garage right now that are not going to be used,” Hadjar aggressively noted. “And that’s what pisses me off the most right now. I just want to be there and fight with the other guys.”

“A Clean Slate”

With Hadjar already starting from the very back of the grid, opting for additional intentional grid drops to install brand-new mechanical components appears to be a highly logical strategy for the Milton Keynes-based squad. When Slater suggested adding a fresh power unit to his yearly allocation pool, Hadjar fully endorsed the drastic move.

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

“Yeah, for sure. We need stuff that is new,” Hadjar confirmed. “And tomorrow is an opportunity, obviously, because everything is breaking apart this weekend. Yeah, we need a fresh restart.”

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has not officially confirmed whether the team will violate parc fermé regulations to fit an entirely new power unit, but the squad’s reliability struggles will undoubtedly be the primary focus of discussion during their overnight review.

Source link