Isack Hadjar wants answers from Red Bull for why his RB22 was “undriveable” during FP2 at the 2026 F1 United States Grand Prix, after facing an issue that is “not normal”.

Red Bull had a positive start to their time at the Circuit of the Americas through four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen this Friday. But while the 29-year-old finished P2 in FP1 and P3 in FP2, Hadjar was only 14th-fastest and ninth-fastest over the opening two practice sessions.

Ferrari star Charles Leclerc beat Verstappen to top FP1 at COTA by only 0.084s, as well, as Hadjar was 1.738s off the Monegasque’s table-topping pace. Hadjar later reduced his deficit slightly to 1.120s, as Leclerc topped FP2 at the United States GP with a best lap of 1:35.291.

Charles Leclerc tops FP2 after also being fastest in the first practice session! Are Ferrari the team to beat this weekend?

Isack Hadjar wants answers from Red Bull over his unusual tyre deg during FP2 at COTA

Verstappen ended the hour-long FP2 with a quickest time of 1:35.480 compared to Hadjar’s personal-best 1:36.411, which was slower than the 1:36.331 that Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson set for P6. Haas’ Oliver Bearman was also only 0.125s slower than Hadjar, as he sealed P10.

Exceeding track limits at Turn 15 also cost Hadjar what would have been his fastest lap time in FP2 at the United States GP, having initially posted a 1:36.079 that would have put him in P6 ahead of Lawson. The Frenchman was one of a host of drivers to be caught out by track limits, and Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also lost their fastest laps.

Paris native Hadjar was most concerned by his unusual levels of tyre degradation on the C4 soft compound Pirelli tyres during FP2 at the United States GP. The 22-year-old felt his tyres were already past their best beyond only the first sector, so he wants answers from Red Bull.

Hadjar said, via the official F1 website: “We had an OK FP1, and then in FP2 I felt OK as well on the medium [tyres], even though we changed the car, and [on] the soft [tyres], 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. It’s just a disaster.

“After sector one, basically, where I made most of my lap time, from sector one to the end of the lap, I was slower than on the mediums.

“It was just undriveable and I was losing the front end massively. So, we need to have a look, because that’s not normal, why there’s so much deg on one lap.”

It was far from the start to the race weekend that Hadjar would have wanted with Red Bull’s upgraded RB22 at the United States GP. The Milton Keynes squad have debuted a new front wing and front corner in Austin, Texas, as well as new Brembo brake discs to aid Verstappen.

When Hadjar set his 1:36.079 lap time that was ultimately deleted while on a set of the soft C4 Pirelli tyres during FP2, he improved his personal-best split time in sector one to 25.667s and in sector three to 32.321s. But he had lost 0.094s to his best split time in sector two and only actually gained 0.088s in sector one and 0.014s in split three to his previous best splits.

Exceeding track limits at Turn 8 also cost Hadjar a 1:36.134 lap time, and the Red Bull driver would ultimately lose a total of eight of his 24 lap times through exceeding track limits. Five of his eight infringements even came at Turn 12 alone, and he exceeded track limits at Turns 12 and also 19 during his eighth lap, too. He was also caught out at T15 and T20 once each.