Formula 1, Sportrik Media - Isack Hadjar has admitted that Red Bull Racing is currently “suffering” with a car package operating at the limit following qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix 2026 in Shanghai. The situation left Hadjar and team-mate Max Verstappen qualifying ninth and eighth respectively at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Hadjar began his Red Bull career with a strong performance in Australia, securing third place in qualifying at the season-opening round. The result came during a difficult weekend for Verstappen, who crashed out in Q1 at Albert Park. However, Hadjar was unable to evaluate the full race potential of the RB22 in Melbourne after retiring just 10 laps into the race due to a power unit issue.
One week later in Shanghai, the RB22 presented a very different challenge for both drivers. Hadjar and Verstappen found themselves roughly one second slower than pole-sitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, highlighting the difficulty Red Bull is facing in extracting performance from the current package.
“No, it's not different,” Hadjar said when asked if the performance drop compared to Australia surprised him.
“We were eight-tenths off in Melbourne, on a smaller track. Here, the circuit is bigger, which exposes us more, so the lap-time loss is bigger, and we have the same performance.”
“We are on the edge of what we have as a package, so we suffer for now, but then we're going to make progress through the season.”
Hadjar also echoed Verstappen’s view that the car is lacking grip and requires more aerodynamic load across the platform, which affects the overall balance of the RB22. According to the French-Algerian driver, the car’s behaviour has been inconsistent from lap to lap, making it difficult for the team to evaluate setup changes and identify clear improvements.
“It was a bit too inconsistent every lap. I was trying to understand the balance of the car lap by lap, so I made a change, and it didn't fix the issue. It's hard to work and make progress when, lap by lap, the balance changes.”
He further pointed out that the contrasting characteristics between the Melbourne and Shanghai circuits have exposed the weaknesses of the current Red Bull package. With the Formula 1 season still in its early stages, the Milton Keynes-based team is expected to continue developing the RB22 to recover performance in upcoming rounds.
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