Isack Hadjar gives positive engine report during Red Bull first day of testing
Isack Hadjar was the first to try out the RB22.
Isack Hadjar was in a positive spirit about Red Bull’s first day of running in Barcelona and in particular with the debut of the team’s first engine.
The RB22 emerged on a track for the first time on Monday with Hadjar behind the wheel and he revealed the team was surprised by what it was able to achieve.
Isack Hadjar reflects on Red Bull’s first day in Barcelona
The addition of a team’s first in-house engine could have been anticipated to bring some issues, but Hadjar completed a day of problem-free running, something he himself was surprised with.
“It was pretty productive,” he said. “Surprisingly, we managed to do a lot more laps than we expected. Everything went pretty smooth. We had, like, only minor issues so it’s quite impressive considering our first day with our own engine. So it was definitely smooth.”
Hadjar is only in his second year of F1 racing but is already being asked to adapt to a whole new way of racing given the sweeping regulations that have taken place this season.
Asked how it felt to be driving, Hadjar suggested the engines allowed the driver more flexibility than in previous years.
“It’s definitely a lot, lot less load in general,” he said. “It’s a bit more predictable compared to the previous generation of cars.
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“They’re more simple. It’s easier to play around with them, and also on the PU side, there’s a lot more options for the driver to play with. So I already started to work on it today. So that was very interesting.”
“Honestly, [the driveability is] pretty decent for the first day. It doesn’t feel too far off what I’m used to, at least on my first season, on all the upshifts, downshifts, that was okay.
“So we still have a few things to tweak around, of course, but it’s solid.
“I couldn’t have prepared the year better. So I’m happy to have at least a very good first day to pay that off but we are definitely not done with the work.”
