Hadjar admits mood at Red Bull is ‘not good’ after tricky start to 2026

Isack Hadjar has admitted that the mood inside the Red Bull camp after Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix was “not good”.

The Frenchman endured a frustrating 53-lap race at the Suzuka Circuit that ultimately resulted in a point-less P12 finish, as Red Bull continued their difficult start to the 2026 campaign.

Hadjar started P8 having out-qualified team mate Max Verstappen for the second time this season after the Dutchman failed to reach the final segment of Qualifying.

But he lost several positions over the opening laps having depleted his battery and spent the first stage of the race becoming frustrated behind Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls machine.

After finding himself down in P13 after the sole Safety Car period, Hadjar only improved one further position by the chequered flag after a difficult race.

“It was just a really long race. I had a good start and was fighting Pierre [Gasly] just like I wanted to on Lap 1,” he said post-race.

“I ran out of battery very early on the start/finish straight and started to be overtaken by everyone on every lap [while] trying to recover energy. I was just stuck for a while so it was not very nice in the car.”

Verstappen could only manage P8 in the final classification, meaning Red Bull have only gathered 16 points so far this season – four of which came from Hadjar in the Chinese Grand Prix.

It leaves the squad sixth in the Teams’ Championship, with Verstappen suggesting Red Bull were now in a midfield battle as opposed to being front runners.

Hadjar admitted the feeling within Red Bull was far from ideal, and that the gap between the next race in Miami would be crucial to finding more performance.

“It’s not good,” said Hadjar about the mood. “But everyone’s got their heads down to understand what’s going on. Hopefully the next version of the car really makes an effect. That’s it”