‘I don’t think we have the fastest car’ – Hadjar highlights Red Bull’s ‘weaknesses’ ahead of United States GP

Isack Hadjar believes that Red Bull do not “have the fastest car” despite their triumphs in Malaysia and Singapore, with the Frenchman labelling Ferrari as the quickest team on the grid last time out.

While Max Verstappen had the opportunity to capitalise on Red Bull’s major upgrades and secure two long-awaited wins, Hadjar was held back by problems with the car that were out of his control.

A series of technical issues in Singapore prevented him from partaking in Sprint Qualifying and forced the team to make changes to the power unit, which relegated him to a pit lane start for the Grand Prix before he charged to P10.

The contrasting fortunes between the team mates were obvious, but Hadjar refuted any suggestion that Verstappen’s performances proved that Red Bull now have the fastest car heading into the final races.

Speaking ahead of the United States Grand Prix, he said: “No. I don't think we have the fastest car.

“I think the car is still very hard to drive. In Malaysia it was dominant, but I don’t think in Singapore it was the fastest car. That’s what I believe. I think if you put Max in the Ferrari, he would’ve won the race with more margin – that’s my opinion. In Singapore, I think [Ferrari] was the fastest car.

“[Verstappen] qualified on pole by half a tenth. Ferrari didn’t have new tyres in the race – I mean, not the softs. This has an effect as well. He put all the chances on his side, he made the difference in Q3 and that was enough.”

Although he didn’t have the best luck in Singapore, Hadjar was eager to leave the frustrations behind him and focus on delivering a strong result at the Circuit of The Americas, where he finished P16 for Racing Bulls last season.

“It was one of those weekends where you get a failure in each session,” Hadjar reflected. “You learn from it and we just move on. I’m happy to be here in Texas. I like the track and the car – performance-wise – has been working really well these last couple of weekends.

“We’re confident as a team but of course we are aware of the upgrades in the other garages. We’re still down to earth and we still know our weaknesses on the car.

“We’re still working on it. I just want to go out there and have another clean one because the last two weekends have been very frustrating considering the car I’ve been given.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was also questioned about Red Bull’s position in the pecking order and readily admitted that their upgrades have enabled them to catch up to the other frontrunners.

“I think Red Bull definitely took a pretty big step forward over the last triple header,” the Australian said. “Whatever upgrades they put on the car in Baku were very strong – obviously they had a double podium there, and then won the next two races with Max.

“It wasn’t a surprise that Ferrari were very strong in Singapore. On the data analysis, they’re always the joint-quickest or outright quickest in basically every corner this year, but they lose on all the straights – whether that’s from drag, from power, I don’t know.

“We certainly expected Ferrari to be the benchmark in Singapore, but we’ve expected them to be the benchmark at other circuits and it’s not turned out to be the case. I think they're very strong.

“Clearly the Red Bull was very strong. Both are stronger than us, for sure. I think over the last few weeks, Red Bull have definitely become the most consistently quick car, but I think each weekend the challenges are rotating.”