‘It was just very messy’ – Isack Hadjar reveals biggest issue from Friday practice in Australia
Isack Hadjar said consistency was “nowhere” after a mixed opening day for his first Friday as a Red Bull driver, where early top speed in FP1 was followed by balance issues and a near-miss in FP2 at the Australian Grand Prix. The 21-year-old held the top spot briefly in FP1 before a big lock-up sent him onto the grass and left him P4 in the session behind teammate Max Verstappen. In FP2 a massive snap at Turn 5 left Hadjar P9 on the timesheets, the only driver from the expected top-four teams outside the top eight.
What went wrong: Isack Hadjar on inconsistency
Hadjar described the central problem as inconsistent deployment that forced him to change braking points mid-run. “In FP1 everything went pretty well, and then FP2 I just had a few issues with the car, ” said Isack Hadjar, Red Bull driver. “So yeah, consistency was nowhere really, and I’ve been struggling a bit more with the car balance. We made a few changes so let’s see what we understood. ” When pressed on the single biggest issue he faced, Hadjar was blunt: “Inconsistency in the deployment – I had to adapt my braking points and it was just very messy. For sure it was expected. As long as we know why and we don’t make the same mistake again, then we’ll be fine. “
Team response and engineering notes
Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan stressed the fine margins at play and framed the day as a learning opportunity for the team. “We’ve seen how easy it is to get it wrong; we’ve seen how difficult it is to get it to be perfect, ” Paul Monaghan, Chief Engineer, said. “We’ve got to take those lessons into tomorrow and make sure we’re ready for Qualifying and the race. Every time you run it, there’s a new way to get it wrong. ” Monaghan underlined the focus on extracting the best setup overnight: “It’s not in our control what the others do. All we can do is get the best out of our car tomorrow and see where we end up. If we do a better job than the others, we should be competitive. “
Reaction from the paddock and wider perspective
Not everyone sees an obvious perfect window to join this team amid the current car dynamics. Jolyon Palmer, former F1 driver, reversed an earlier supportive view of the timing of Hadjar’s promotion, concluding there may be no ideal moment to partner the reigning race winner. Palmer pointed to how the new machinery can suit one driver’s style more than another’s and noted the challenge of stepping into a team where setup sensitivity is so high. The rookie’s recent winter run included a crash in Barcelona testing and reliability issues in Bahrain; lap totals and comparative times from those sessions showed Hadjar trailing the lead driver in test mileage and one-lap pace, underlining the steep learning curve.
Hadjar’s admission that deployment and braking-point inconsistency cost him in FP2 frames Friday as a diagnostic day rather than a decisive failure. His brief FP1 top time and the close calls in FP2 leave room for optimism if the team can stabilise the balance and deployment overnight.
What’s next
Attention now turns to the overnight analysis and the crucial qualifying runs: engineers will attempt to lock down deployment behaviour and braking stability before Qualifying. Paul Monaghan has set the task plainly — learn from today’s errors and be prepared for a clean qualifying performance. If adjustments correct the inconsistency Hadjar experienced, the team expects to be competitive; if not, the pair of practice sessions will have exposed longer work ahead for both driver and engineers. Isack Hadjar’s focus is clear: understand the deployment issues, avoid repeating the mistakes, and be ready when qualifying begins.
