Isack Hadjar’s Singapore Grand Prix weekend descended further into misery on Saturday as another double mechanical failure robbed the frustrated Red Bull driver of any meaningful opportunity to fight in qualifying, leaving him stranded at the bottom of the timesheets.
While Max Verstappen celebrated a superb pole position, Hadjar was left wondering whether his car would even make it through a lap.
After retiring from the Sprint with a terminal power unit failure, the Frenchman watched Red Bull’s hurried repairs unravel under the Marina Bay floodlights, with his patience wearing increasingly thin.
‘I just want to drive’
Red Bull’s mechanics had worked frantically to replace engine components ahead of qualifying, but their efforts bought Hadjar precious little respite.
His engine shut down during Q1, forcing him back to the garage, before a subsequent attempt ended when he lost all his gears to a gearbox failure.
Unable to record a representative lap, Hadjar qualified 22nd, although George Russell’s engine penalty means he is provisionally set to start 21st.
Asked whether the knowledge that the latest failure was beyond his control made the result any easier to accept, Hadjar had little interest in such consolation.
"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," he said.
For a driver desperate to measure himself against the competition, sitting helplessly in the garage was particularly galling. Hadjar believes there was more to extract from the car, making the wasted track time all the more infuriating.
"I have plenty of soft tyres in the garage right now that are not going to be used," he said. "And that's what pisses me off the most right now. I just want to be there and fight with the other guys."
A fresh start after a disastrous weekend?
With a back-row start already looming, Red Bull could use the opportunity to install further new components, even if doing so means accepting additional grid penalties. Asked whether a fresh power unit should be considered, Hadjar was unequivocal.
"Yeah, for sure. We need stuff that is new," he said. "And tomorrow is an opportunity, obviously, because everything is breaking apart this weekend. Yeah, we need a fresh restart."
Team principal Laurent Mekies has yet to confirm whether Red Bull will make further changes under parc fermé restrictions.
For Hadjar, however, the priority is clear: the team needs to stop fighting its own machinery and give him a car capable of completing the job.
Verstappen may have delivered a statement of strength, but his team-mate's weekend has become an increasingly ugly demonstration of Red Bull's reliability woes.
Read also: Verstappen’s Sprint joy tempered by ‘horrendous’ getaway... again
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