Hadjar calls for Red Bull clutch redesign after costly Austin start

Isack Hadjar has called on Red Bull to redesign its clutch after a poor getaway from third on the grid in the United States Grand Prix, where he finished sixth. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after watching a replay of his start, he said he had followed the procedure correctly but experienced clutch over-delivery, which he described as outside his control.

Hadjar had qualified on the second row, just 0.036 seconds behind team-mate Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton passed him on the opening lap, dropping him to fifth. Lando Norris later passed him on his way to fifth.

His problems continued after the pit stop. Hadjar said he struggled to hear his engineers on the radio and left the pits with the wrong map. He said the map cost him around a second per lap on the hard tyre.

Asked whether Red Bull had explained the start issue to him, Hadjar said it had not. He called the clutch “too fragile” to cope with temperatures and made his request bluntly: “It needs a redesign.”