Hadjar wants his first points as a Red Bull driver
Red Bull has archived the first weekend of 2026 – the one that recorded the official debut of the power unit built on the Milton Keynes-Ford axis – with Isack Hadjar’s third place in Qualifying and Max Verstappen’s comeback in the race to a final sixth place.
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In the Melbourne GP Hadjar had to wave the white flag after a few laps due to a reliability issue, while Verstappen was unable to get the better of Lando Norris. In view of the Shanghai weekend, the four-time world champion is particularly concerned about tire degradation given that in Australia this aspect was quite critical for Red Bull.
“It was good to be back racing and seeing that we were able to recover well in the race was promising – the words of Max Verstappen – the team did a great job to get to where we are, but there is still a lot to do and a lot to learn from this race. In Melbourne we suffered particularly from tire degradation, which could also be a problem on this Shanghai circuit, and also tire usage is an aspect we can evaluate. We will continue to collect data and work to improve the car, we are still learning and we want to approach this week with more determination. Of course, it is a Sprint weekend, so we will have less time to work on the car’s setup, so we must ensure we start on the right foot. The circuit is quite unique, with a rather challenging layout with a variety of different corners, but with many opportunities for overtaking”.
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Isack Hadjar will go hunting for his first points as a Red Bull driver: “My debut with the Team in Melbourne was a special moment for me and Saturday was a perfect start. Unfortunately, the weekend didn’t end as we wanted, but we are motivated to come back stronger this week in Shanghai. I want to put in a good performance during the weekend and continue to test myself against the best. With a Sprint weekend you have even more opportunities to get great results and that’s what I aim to do”.
