Red Bull tipped for podium contention in Austria as new updates are on the way

"I mean, considering how small the track is, it can either be the same result or better, a podium. So I think we’ll have a seriously stronger car," Hadjar explained to GPblog, among others, at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Frenchman finished sixth during the last race after Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc's DNFs. A slow start also hurt his chances of achieving a better result, and it was not the first time that this has happened with the RB22 during this campaign. "I don't know [what happened]. I think out of the six practice starts we had the whole weekend, it was the worst. It had to happen on the grid. I stalled twice, which I never did the whole season. So, yeah, we need to fix these issues because the procedure is way too complicated. And I'm not a computer, I'm not a machine, I can't be 0.001 precise. It's not working."

About where the RB22 needs to improve, he added: "The start of the race. And then regarding our car, compared to the rest, I think we're lacking just high-speed performance, corner entries, everything that's at higher speed, we're lacking a bit."

When answering GPblog's question in Barcelona about the team currently being in no man's land, Hadjar commented: "Especially if you're fall back like me, you clear the midfield cars quite easy and then the top cars are nowhere near you."

Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Laurent Mekies also said that he expected a worse result in Barcelona. "I think we were expecting a reality check in Barcelona. First track with a long straight, the medium-speed, high-speed corners, it's probably the first time after China and Japan where we come back to this sort of track. So we are expecting certainly a different performance compared to Monaco, where we could certainly fight for pole position.

He also confirmed updates for the team's home weekend. "In Austria, hopefully we'll get lighter there. The plan is to get the car to eat a little bit less there, and to get on a bit of a diet."