Red Bull is investigating a sudden loss of performance on Isack Hadjar’s RB22 after the French driver lost a likely podium in the closing stages at Sepang. Isack Hadjar had run third for much of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, but a heavily depleted battery left him unable to defend against the two Ferraris during the final two laps.
The fifth-place finish still confirmed the strong form shown by Isack Hadjar since returning from the injury that forced him to miss the first three races after the summer break. However, both the driver and Red Bull remain unsure why the car’s performance dropped so sharply at the crucial moment.
Isack Hadjar continues strong run since Baku return
Isack Hadjar has continued to earn praise since returning to his RB22 in Baku. The former Racing Bulls driver had already produced strong performances earlier in the season, but his form has stepped up another level since coming back from injury.
A podium in Azerbaijan followed by fifth place in Malaysia, after spending long periods in third position, underlined both Red Bull’s recent performance gains and the progress of a driver now in his second Formula 1 season.
The improvement comes as Red Bull attempts to finish the year strongly, with Max Verstappen also benefiting from the team’s recent technical progress.
Battery problem leaves Isack Hadjar unable to defend from Ferrari
After discussing the disappointing race pace, Isack Hadjar explained that he had been unable to defend against the Ferraris during the final two laps because his battery was too low on energy. He could not explain why the problem had appeared.
“The problem wasn’t related to the power unit, that was working fine. Only in the last two laps, after the restart, I didn’t understand why the battery was so low on energy. Then it stabilised and I became fast again. Otherwise I would have stayed third.”
The issue was particularly costly because Isack Hadjar had shown enough pace earlier in the race to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him before the final Safety Car restart.
Laurent Mekies says Red Bull still does not know the cause
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies nevertheless emphasised how strong Isack Hadjar had been throughout the weekend. The French driver was competitive from the opening practice session, and his eventual fifth place still represented another encouraging result.
What Laurent Mekies could not yet explain was exactly what happened to Isack Hadjar’s RB22 when the race restarted.
“Isack had a fantastic weekend. At one point he was third in qualifying. We thought we could get on the front row with Max. I think we were on the front row after the first run in Q3, until Lewis did a really good lap.”
Isack Hadjar was equally competitive in the race and, according to Laurent Mekies, did everything expected of him.
“He was strong in the race as well. He did everything right. Did we lose a bit of performance at the final restart after the Safety Car? Yes. Have we already understood exactly why it happened? No, not yet.”
Red Bull analysing chassis and power unit data
Red Bull has already begun investigating both the chassis and power unit data to determine why the RB22 no longer had the performance required to hold third place in the closing laps.
“The guys have been analysing the data since last night, both from the chassis side and from the power unit side, to understand why we didn’t have the level of performance needed to keep third place,” Laurent Mekies explained.
“And it’s a shame, because Isack had shown in the previous laps that he could keep Lewis behind. It’s a shame to lose a podium like that.”
Despite the disappointment, Laurent Mekies stressed that the unexplained late-race drop did not take away from Isack Hadjar’s overall level throughout the Sepang weekend.
“But that doesn’t change the fact that he was really, really fast throughout the weekend. And I’m sure that, as always, we’ll do a thorough analysis and understand what we were missing and what happened to make us lose performance in the final laps.”
Finding the cause will be important before the next round, as Red Bull looks to prevent the issue from recurring during the closing stages of the 2026 Formula 1 season. The wider championship picture can also be followed through the latest Formula 1 driver standings.
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