Hadjar Overcomes Marina Bay Adversity to Clinch P10
Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar staged a resilient recovery drive at the Singapore Grand Prix, fighting through the field from a pit-lane start to capture tenth place and snatch the final point of the race. The Frenchman faced a grueling sequence of events on the Marina Bay street circuit after technical malfunctions compromised his RB22 across the weekend. The mechanical setbacks triggered a premature retirement during the Sprint and left Hadjar unable to post a lap time in Grand Prix Qualifying, forcing Red Bull to install new power unit components and resign the driver to a pit-lane departure for Sunday’s 62-lap Grand Prix.
The early phase of the race proved testing as Hadjar grappled with further technical gremlins and compound degradation, yet he maintained focus to steadily work his way into contention. His recovery was ultimately capped off in the closing laps when he overtook Alpine’s Pierre Gasly to seal P10, taking the flag just six seconds adrift of George Russell’s Mercedes, which had also started from the tail of the grid.
“At some point I was nearly dead last,”
said Hadjar afterwards. “Fernando [Alonso] overtook me, I had software issues, just a painful start but then we got back to it.
“On the medium [tyre] it was just damage limitation – I feel like I knew it was the weaker compound this weekend and the soft was working really well.
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“So once I was on it, I didn’t have many laps to do on it, I had to just be flat-out and I was very fast. I enjoyed it honestly. I was flat-out, not much management and good overtakes.”
Pace Shines Through Despite Persistent Reliability Concerns
While Hadjar orchestrated his late-race charge, his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen converted the team’s baseline speed into an outright victory. Hadjar drew plenty of encouragement from the RB22’s underlying performance when running on the soft compound tyre, acknowledging that his personal speed matched up well against the front-running machinery during the final stint.
However, the French driver conceded that Red Bull faces pressing technical challenges ahead of the next round. Having required wholesale component swaps before lights-out on Sunday, Hadjar emphasized that understanding the root cause of the weekend’s breakdowns remains vital if the team hopes to sustain its performance without risking further grid penalties or lost track time.
“It’s good to have had everything new today during the race. At the same time, it’s not like we know how to avoid these issues yet,”
explained Hadjar.
“We don’t have a guarantee this won’t happen again, so in the next two weeks, big work to investigate that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“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.”
Why This Matters
Hadjar’s gritty point-scoring finish in Singapore proves that the Red Bull package carries competitive speed even when navigating the most demanding street circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. Max Verstappen’s victory reinforces the front-running baseline of the car, but Hadjar’s chronic technical hurdles highlight ongoing vulnerabilities beneath the surface. With a two-week interval before the next race, Red Bull’s engineering corps must prioritize hardware and software fixes to ensure reliability does not undermine the squad’s championship momentum in both the drivers’ and constructors’ standings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Isack Hadjar start the Singapore Grand Prix from the pit lane?
Hadjar was forced to start from the pit lane following a weekend marred by technical failures on his RB22. After retiring from the Sprint and being unable to set a time in Grand Prix Qualifying, Red Bull fitted new power unit elements to his car ahead of Sunday’s race.
Who did Hadjar pass to secure the final point in Singapore?
Hadjar overtook Alpine driver Pierre Gasly during the closing laps of the 62-lap race to claim tenth position and the final world championship point.
How does Hadjar view Red Bull’s outlook for the upcoming races?
Hadjar expressed confidence in the team’s underlying speed following Max Verstappen’s victory and his own charge through the field, but he stressed that Red Bull must spend the two-week break investigating and fixing its recent reliability and software issues.
