Isack Hadjar voices shock over dramatic mistake

Isack Hadjar has stated there was nothing he could have done to fix his dramatic spin at Turn 13 during the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Frenchman was demoted to the rear of the field on the opening lap after a mistake while battling Oliver Bearman saw him rotate 180 degrees through the high-speed final sector.

Bearman narrowly avoided making contact with Hadjar, which likely would have meant the end of both of their races.

Hadjar went on to score eighth place to get his tally up and running in 2026 - but it was not without struggle.

“The car was just super hard to drive [on Sunday], a lot more than it was the last two days,” Hadjar told media including RacingNews365

“It just caught me off guard on lap one, and even the whole race, I was just fighting with it.

“It was just very instantaneous, the way the car snapped out from me. 

“I didn't have time to have an input on that. The thing just spun out and I was done.”

Hadjar was the only Red Bull driver to score points after Max Verstappen was forced to retire after his car was struck by a mechanical issue.

The four-time champion was on course for a point-scoring result before parking up in the pit lane and also faced subsational struggles with the handling of the RB22.

Hadjar conceded Red Bull has nothing more to fight with as its challenging start to the year continued in Shanghai. 

“With the package we have at the moment, it's all we can deliver,” he said.

“We just need to wait and understand why this is not working.”