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Hadjar Frustrated by ‘Undriveable’ Red Bull Performance in Austin
Highlights
- Hadjar calls second practice session at Austin “a disaster.”
- Car setup changes caused severe front tyre overheating and grip loss.
- Hadjar finished ninth, nearly one second behind Verstappen’s third place.
- Red Bull to reverse setup changes overnight to improve balance.
- Technical Director cites car stiffness and bumps at Circuit of the Americas.
- Hadjar hopeful for better performance in qualifying after adjustments.
Isack Hadjar calls Austin FP2 a disaster after Red Bull RB22 setup changes trigger front-tyre overheating. He finishes ninth, nearly a second slower than Max Verstappen during the 2026 United States Grand Prix in Austin.
Verstappen sets the third-fastest time, behind Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli. The gap highlights how Hadjar’s soft-tyre pace collapses versus productive early running on mediums and higher fuel.
Hadjar reports the soft compound exposes a balance shift that overheats the front axle through COTA’s fast sequences. Mediums feel acceptable, but the softs strip grip and stability almost immediately.
Most of his time comes in Sector 1, then performance tails off sharply. He slows to protect the fronts, describing washout from Turn 1 onwards and calling the car undriveable.
“On the soft tyre, honestly, the car was completely gone for me.” — Isack Hadjar
Red Bull attributes the slump to the setup direction taken between sessions on Hadjar’s RB22. Verstappen suffers fewer issues after a power steering fix from FP1, exposing the divergence between their cars.
Technical director Pierre Wache says the RB22 lacks compliance over COTA’s bumps and struggles most in low speed. He stresses Hadjar’s setup isn’t radical versus Verstappen’s, but it proves the wrong direction.
“The car is not very compliant on these bumps here.” — Pierre Wache
Overnight, Red Bull targets a reversion to the Friday baseline, prioritising balance and tyre temperature control. The team expects improved rotation and stability for qualifying if conditions and track temperatures cooperate.
Red Bull plans to reverse the FP2 setup changes overnight to recover balance and tyre management.
The episode underlines how small setup deltas can swing tyre behaviour on COTA’s abrasive surface. It also feeds into the ongoing Verstappen–Hadjar performance debate and scrutiny of Red Bull’s speed across different circuit demands.
Visual Summary
Sector 1
⚡ Fast
Sector 2
⬇️ Slow
Sector 3
🛑 Fade
Hadjar’s Tyre ‘Disaster’ in Austin 🔥
After set-up changes, Isack Hadjar lost nearly a second to Verstappen on overheating soft tyres, melting away his grip and pace in Sectors 2 & 3.
“It was just undriveable.”
“It was just undriveable.”
➡️ Overnight, Red Bull reversed setup changes, aiming to cool off Hadjar’s tyres—and his fortune—before qualifying.
P9 Hadjar
-0.987s vs Verstappen
P3 Verstappen
Daniel Miller reports on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends with race-day analysis, team-radio highlights, and point-standings updates. He explains power-unit upgrades, aerodynamic developments, and driver rivalries in straightforward, SEO-friendly language for a global F1 audience.
