Hadjar labels Red Bull F1 car 'dangerous' after undriveable Japanese GP

Red Bull's Isack Hadjar delivered a scathing assessment of his car after the Japanese Grand Prix, describing it as "really, really undriveable – it even was dangerous." The Frenchman, who qualified a promising eighth, plummeted to 12th place in a race plagued by an early battery issue and a fundamental lack of pace, leaving him with little optimism heading into the sport's extended break.

Why it matters:

Hadjar's stark comments highlight a growing crisis within the Red Bull camp beyond its star driver Max Verstappen. While the reigning champion continues to fight for wins, his teammate is struggling with a car that appears unpredictable and uncompetitive. For a team with Red Bull's pedigree, having a driver declare the car dangerous due to its handling is a severe indictment of their current development direction and raises serious questions about the package's consistency across both sides of the garage.

The details:

• Hadjar's race unraveled immediately due to a critical battery problem that left him "powerless" and destroyed his strategy to fight Alpine's Pierre Gasly.
• Despite the setback, he was later embroiled in a fierce battle with Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, who received a black-and-white warning flag for moving under braking.
• A poorly-timed pit stop just before a Safety Car period further compromised his race, dropping him to 13th.
• Although he fought back to 11th with overtakes on Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, he was ultimately repassed by Hulkenberg to finish 12th.
• The core issue, according to Hadjar, was a complete lack of race pace that was "worse than earlier in the weekend," transforming the car into an unpredictable handful.

What's next:

With only four points from the first three rounds, Hadjar's season is already in jeopardy. His post-race summary was bleak: "The only positive right now is that I can drive the car fast. But we have no lead on how we can make the car fast." The upcoming five-week break, caused by the cancellation of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, offers Red Bull a critical window to diagnose and address these fundamental performance issues. If solutions aren't found, the team risks one of its cars becoming a permanent fixture in the midfield, a scenario unthinkable for a squad that dominated the previous era.