Hadjar reports battery trouble as Red Bull investigates post-restart speed loss

Isack Hadjar was third after the final restart at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc passed him, and he finished fifth. The Red Bull driver said he had no power to defend against Ferrari on the straight.

Speaking to Viaplay after the race, Hadjar said he did not even reach 300 km/h on the straight. He also said the car would not turn in during the closing laps.

Hadjar said his battery was very low only during the first two laps after the restart, then stabilised and he was fast again. He did not know why it had been so low and believed he would otherwise have stayed third. He also described the battery as empty in the closing laps, but his comments do not make clear whether the two descriptions referred to the same period.

He said he felt no grip even behind the Safety Car and expected the restart to be difficult. Hadjar identified the RB22’s chassis, rather than the power unit, as the main problem.

After the race, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the team had lost speed at the restart after the final Safety Car. He said Red Bull did not yet have an exact explanation and was analysing chassis and engine data to understand why it lacked the pace to hold third.

Mekies called fifth a strong result given Hadjar’s starting position, while saying Red Bull could have ended the weekend with another double podium. Hadjar said the team needed to solve the problem and get it right in Singapore.