That said, what a nightmare weekend for Isack Hadjar at the Singapore Grand Prix. A relentless wave of technical gremlins gutted nearly every single track session, leaving the team scrambling and Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies offering a direct apology with the stark admission that "we owe him one."
Here's the thing: Hadjar arrived at this final round of the triple header carrying real momentum from a superb drive to third in Azerbaijan, though he was already smarting from a late power unit glitch in Malaysia that dropped him from a potential P3 down to fifth. But Singapore took the frustration to an entirely different level.
Now since Malaysia, I'm just desperate to have a car that's working a bit better on my side to fight for a win,
Trouble bit right away in Friday's Sprint Qualifying with power unit issues forcing him into P9. Saturday brought even worse luck when a power unit failure struck on the third lap of the Sprint. The crew rallied brilliantly to bolt on previously used elements for Qualifying, but disaster compounded: a gearbox issue stripped fourth gear instantly, leaving him unable to complete a flying lap before the car was unceremoniously doused with extinguishant upon parking.
"Today was a disaster," Hadjar rued. "I could have stayed back in Paris, and it would have been the same…"
Opting to break parc ferme, the team installed a new power unit into the pool and dropped him straight into a pit lane start. Initial getaways brought more power unit hiccups and an early loss to fellow pit lane starter Fernando Alonso, but once the machine settled, the raw speed was terrifying. He clawed his way up the order to finish 10th, crossing the line just 6s behind George Russell after starting 19th on the grid.
"It was good for everything that's happened," Hadjar said after the flag. "Definitely good pace, but I don't know what to say. It's just surprising we could make that race entertaining, considering it's very difficult to overtake around that track. I'm quite happy about that. But I would have liked to make use of that pace to fight for a win."
Mekies did not sugarcoat the garage's failure, pointing to a horrific accumulation of issues spanning power units, gearboxes, and various other glitches that denied his driver any clean running before Sunday. He reserved massive praise for the mechanics—pointing out that Max Verstappen's crew crossed the garage to help turn the car around under brutal, hot, and humid conditions through the end of the triple header.
With Max Verstappen sweeping the weekend's poles and wins to underline the sheer power of the RB22, Hadjar is left hungry for a clean slate. "Now since Malaysia, I'm just desperate to have a car that's working a bit better on my side to fight for a win," he said, setting his sights firmly on a reset for Austin.
