Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar endured a difficult second practice session ahead of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, describing his RB22 as “undriveable” after a series of set-up adjustments backfired.
Hadjar finished the Friday session in ninth position, trailing teammate Max Verstappen by 0.931 seconds. While Verstappen secured the third-fastest spot behind Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli, Hadjar battled severe handling issues, particularly when switching to the soft tyre compound.
The Frenchman reported that his car felt manageable during the opening practice session and initially showed decent pace on the medium tyres in FP2 despite intervening modifications. However, the installation of the soft tyres triggered a dramatic loss of performance. Hadjar noted that the front tires overheated severely through the high-speed corners early in the lap, depleting his grip for the remainder of the run.
“We had an okay FP1, and then in FP2 I felt okay as well on the medium, even though we changed the car,” Hadjar said. “And the soft, honestly, the car was completely gone for me. So yeah, very difficult to drive. I need to turn things around tomorrow, sit down and see what we can do, because the car made a massive step down. We need to bring it back at least to the level it was this morning.”
The driver pointed out that his lap times deteriorated rapidly after navigating the first sector, noting that his pace through the latter stages of the circuit was actually slower than his previous runs on the medium compound due to massive front-end loss.
While Verstappen encountered his own issues during the opening session—requiring a power steering change—he managed to avoid the severe balance problems that hampered his teammate. Hadjar acknowledged that the two cars featured slight setup variations, yet expressed surprise at the magnitude of his difficulties.
Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache confirmed that the engineering crew had pursued an incorrect set-up trajectory between the two sessions. Wache explained that the team was actively working to reverse those changes overnight, emphasizing that the baseline setups between the two cars remained relatively close.
According to Wache, the unique layout of the Austin circuit compounded their troubles. The demanding high-speed section following Turn 1 placed excessive thermal stress on the rubber, effectively ruining the tyres for the rest of the lap if overheated early. Additionally, Wache noted that the circuit’s persistent bumps presented compliance challenges for the RB22.
“As expected it’s jumping a lot,” Wache said. “The problem with this type of setup we are using, that is quite not as stiff as last year but not so far, is that the car is not very compliant on these bumps here.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s running, Wache stated that unlocking performance in low-speed corners remains the primary engineering priority for the team as they look to correct the handling issues ahead of qualifying.
