Isack Hadjar has downplayed angry comments he made about Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad during the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.

Isack Hadjar started from eighth, but lost out to Arvid Lindblad on the first lap, and then to Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon on the second lap.

When Verstappen and Ocon subsequently quickly got by Lindblad, Hadjar found himself behind the British driver.

His unsuccessful efforts to get past left him frustrated, with Lindblad also given a black and white flag warning for moving under breaking, which drew the ire of Hadjar over his Red Bull team radio.

But Hadjar also had to contend with battery deployment issues and the generally poor performance of the RB22.

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He eventually finished out of the points in 12th, having passed Lindblad around the pit stops, with both drivers losing out overall by coming in just before the safety car.

Asked by Crash.net about the Lindblad comments, he stressed that he had bigger concerns.

“This is not even one per cent of how bad this race was,” he said. “It’s no big deal. We just need to understand why that battery situation [was happening], and so early.

“Because I was comfortable in eighth, the plan was to fight Pierre [Gasly], which we were doing. And it all faded away with an empty battery, and then you’re just powerless.”

However, when pushed on Lindblad, he made it clear that he felt the British driver had an eye on the internal battle between the Red Bull youngsters.

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“You can understand. He lets Max through, he defends against me. So it just makes sense for him, you know? But yeah, that was not very useful for both of us. It’s okay. He’s young.”

Suzuka was the first race of 2026 in which both Red Bulls finished, but Hadjar didn’t see that as something to celebrate.

“The only positive right now is that I can drive the car fast – but we have no lead on how we can make the fast now.

“We have a good power unit, the engine is good, everything. It’s just the chassis side is terrible. Just slow in the corners.”

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