Isack Hadjar admits that while scoring points in the Japanese Grand Prix is the goal, the ultimate priority is “to understand how we can make that car faster” after another difficult Qualifying session for Red Bull.
The Frenchman will start Sunday’s 53-lap race at the Suzuka Circuit from eighth having out-qualified Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen for the second time this season.
Verstappen complained about the handling of the car throughout Qualifying and post-session, with Hadjar also confirming that the RB22 is proving difficult to get on top of in 2026.
“I knew it was going to be very hard to get to Q3 considering all the practice sessions,” said Hadjar.
“The car felt very different in Qualifying, not very much in a good way – it was just very hard to drive, but it was better. Honestly, P7 was my goal – my unachievable goal – but we were very close to it.”
Hadjar has achieved one points finish so far this season after finishing eighth in the Chinese Grand Prix last time out but believes staying inside the top 10 again in Japan will be a challenge.
More importantly, though, the 21-year-old wants to understand the car further in order to extract greater performance as the season progresses.
“Scoring a point considering how close it is with the cars around me is going to be tricky,” he said.
“Of course, points are always the target. The end goal is not to score points tomorrow, it’s to understand how we can make that car faster.”
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