Hadjar urges Red Bull to consider new power unit after Singapore problems

Isack Hadjar urged Red Bull to consider a fresh power unit for Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix after a power-unit problem forced him to pull his car off the circuit during Saturday’s Sprint and a suspected gearbox issue cut short his qualifying.

Red Bull replaced power-unit components between the Sprint and qualifying, allowing Hadjar to take part. He stopped on track during qualifying, got the car back to the garage and later reported a gearbox problem. Red Bull retired it before he could set a time.

Team principal Laurent Mekies said Hadjar could not have done anything differently. The gearbox diagnosis was still preliminary, he said, and Red Bull would investigate the exact cause.

Hadjar said his biggest frustration was having soft tyres in the garage that would go unused; he wanted to be on track fighting the other drivers. After qualifying, he backed Sky Sports F1 presenter Craig Slater’s suggestion that Red Bull add a fresh power unit to his allocation. He said the team needed new parts; he described the weekend as one in which “everything is breaking apart”, with Sunday an opportunity for a “fresh restart”.

Motorsport.com reported that Mekies had yet to formally confirm whether Red Bull would install a new unit. RacingNews365 described the change as likely and said it would mean a pit-lane start.