Isack Hadjar's wretched day in Singapore continued after failing to set a time in qualifying for Sunday's grand prix.
In the sprint race earlier in the day, Hadjar was forced to pull his RB22 off the circuit due to a power unit problem as the field toured behind the safety car following a crash at the end of lap one involving George Russell in his Mercedes.
During the interval between the sprint and qualifying at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the Red Bull mechanics replaced the PU, allowing Hadjar to start qualifying. The French-Algerian driver even thanked the team as he returned to the track.
It was not long, however, before he encountered further issues. Initially, he was forced to stop on track, but managed to get the car going again and return to the garage.
Despite another attempt to post a lap, Hadjar then complained of a gearbox problem. "Same issue, I've lost the gears!" bemoaned Hadjar. The team then retired the car from qualifying.
Explaining the situation to Sky Sports F1, team principal Laurent Mekies said: "Nothing Isack could have done differently, but we had a gearbox issue on his car.
"Obviously, it comes after the issue we had with the power unit in the sprint and the incredible push from everyone to turn on the car and replace everything that had to be replaced.
"A bit early to understand the exact cause. It appears to be a gearbox issue, but we will conduct the right analysis."
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