Hadjar cannot explain Singapore Sprint Qualifying struggle

What Hadjar considered a good start turned into what he called a “very poor performance” in Singapore Sprint Qualifying. He finished ninth after his SQ3 lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, and said he was fighting the car but could not explain why.

Hadjar said he felt comfortable on the hard tyre in FP1, where he was fourth-fastest and ahead of Max Verstappen on that compound. On mediums, however, he was around seven tenths behind his team-mate, and complained that the RB22 was bottoming out too much.

His deficit to Verstappen narrowed from 0.705 seconds in SQ1 to 0.246 seconds in SQ2. Hadjar’s deleted SQ3 effort was 1m32.048s, 0.892 seconds slower than Verstappen’s benchmark, leaving him without a valid time in the final segment.

Hadjar reported engine issues on his final run. He said the soft tyre offered much more grip than the medium but made little difference when the other drivers were also on softs. “I just don't feel like it's drivable right now,” he said.

His difficulty explaining this one session contrasts with the broader progress Hadjar had described earlier in the 2026 season. After returning to Baku, he said the car felt more cohesive and better under control; he also said Red Bull increasingly understood how it responded to setup changes.