Isack Hadjar was anything but happy after Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, having seen a potential podium finish slip through in the final laps of the race due to a battery issue that he labelled “a joke”.
The Red Bull driver had produced another strong drive to run as high as fourth before the event’s final Safety Car intervention only to find himself suddenly powerless when the race resumed for its closing four-lap sprint.
Hadjar's race had already been an eventful affair before the real drama began. Starting eighth because of an engine penalty, the Frenchman ran through the gravel on the formation lap as he negotiated the wet conditions.
Once the race finally got under way, however, he recovered superbly on intermediates.
Hadjar passed Racing Bulls Liam Lawson on lap six to move into fourth and then held the position for much of the afternoon, resisting growing pressure from Lewis Hamilton as the Ferrari driver carved his way through the field.
When George Russell retired on lap 50, Hadjar suddenly found himself promoted to third. It should have been the moment of his race.
Instead, the restart exposed a problem that left him unable to fight back.
“No pace,” the Red Bull driver rued. “Something was wrong, because… I can't possibly be a second a lap slower now. Even compared to the Mercedes, you know?
“The whole weekend we were quicker. And now, in the race, we're absolutely nowhere. The car was horrible to drive.
“Just the last couple of laps, I don't know how we ended up having no battery. So, in the straights, I can't defend against the Ferraris, so we lose the podium on something so stupid.”
The numbers backed up his frustration. Across the 30 laps completed under green-flag conditions, Hadjar had lost an average of just 0.881 seconds per lap to eventual winner Max Verstappen.
Suddenly, he was losing dramatically more time when it mattered most.
Hadjar baffled by battery behaviour
Hadjar was clear that he did not believe the problem originated with Red Bull's power unit. Instead, he pointed towards the strange loss of battery deployment immediately after the final restart.
“No, on the chassis side. Power unit was fine, it's just the first two laps of the restart, I don't know why we were so down on battery. Then it stabilised itself and then I was fast again. Otherwise, I would have kept third,” he explained.
“I don't know, just the grip. Even behind the safety car, I was feeling that I had no grip and it was going to be a tough restart for me. It felt like I was always on the same tyres. I came back on the run-one compound, so… It's a joke.
“The whole weekend, I was pretty fast, so… We need to fix the issue, come back in Singapore and do better.”
The timing could hardly have been worse.
Hadjar had spent the weekend demonstrating that he had the pace to mix it with the front-runners, only for an unexplained loss of performance to leave him completely exposed when the podium was finally within his grasp.
Hamilton passed the Frenchman for third at Turn 1 on lap 53, before Leclerc followed through and pushed him down to fifth.
Red Bull at least had something to celebrate, with Verstappen converting pole into his first victory of the season. The result also helped the team dramatically close the gap to McLaren in the constructors' championship, from 76 points to just 18 over the last two rounds.
Hadjar, however, was in no mood to celebrate his team's success.
“Yeah, but you know, it's not a good day for me,” he responded. “I'm happy for the boys, but it's a disaster for me.”
And that was the painful reality of Hadjar's afternoon. He had done almost everything required to earn a first F1 podium, survived the chaos at the start and held his own against much more experienced opposition.
Then, when the opportunity finally arrived, his car seemingly took the fight out of his hands. For Hadjar, the frustration now lies in making sure Red Bull understands why.
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