Why Hadjar is already on his seventh Red Bull engine, and why Sepang may not be his last grid drop

As GPblog reported in Bahrain GP starting grid heavily reshuffled in Sepang: Red Bull driver set for grid drop, the penalty pushed Hadjar from third in qualifying to eighth on the grid. He then recovered to fifth in the race. Why he got there is covered in Hadjar brands race ‘a disaster’ after Hamilton pounces on Red Bull problem.

Four ICEs are permitted as part of the seasonal allowance without a penalty, as shown by teammate Max Verstappen using his fourth in Baku. Hadjar, though, is three engines past that limit.

Part of the explanation is the summer. The Frenchman missed three Grands Prix due to a wrist injury suffered during the summer break, and Liam Lawson filled in.

Component usage during Lawson's appearances as Hadjar's replacement counts towards the same allocation. Changing the driver does not reset the permitted number of parts, meaning Hadjar inherits the consequences of components used while he was recovering.

This says nothing about Lawson himself. It is simply how the rules work as those penalties Lawson took as a stand-in were counting towards Hadjar's car and not Lawson as a new driver in the car.

F1's penalty rules state that for the first component used beyond the permitted allocation, a 10-place penalty is awarded, with every subsequent new part worth a five-place drop. Hadjar's car had already passed the 10-place drop for each component, so Sepang cost him five places rather than ten.

There is a ceiling too. Under the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, a driver who accumulates more than 15 grid places must start behind the other classified drivers.

That happened to Arvid Lindblad at Sepang, where he took a fifth ICE, turbocharger and exhaust, enough for a 30-place drop to the back.

Hadjar was clear about how much the timing hurt after qualifying:

Ironically, every Red Bull Ford unit scored in Malaysia: Verstappen first, Hadjar fifth, Liam Lawson seventh and Lindblad tenth from the back of the grid, so the reliability bill is being paid in grid slots rather than points, which is survivable in a damp, chaotic race and much less so on a dry Sunday.

Red Bull cannot expect any help from the rulebook either. Red Bull Ford Powertrains was the one manufacturer that received no assistance in the ADUO updates because it was the benchmark, a verdict that locks Red Bull out of any catch-up relief for the rest of 2026.

Every grid slot counts in the constructors' standings as well. Hadjar's 10 points, on top of Verstappen's 25, helped Red Bull close in on McLaren for third place, with the gap reduced from 76 to 18 points over the last two rounds.

Looking ahead, the thing to watch is how many more fresh elements Red Bull fits before the season ends, and whether it bundles them at tracks where overtaking is easier. Red Bull has not said whether Hadjar will need another new part in Singapore.

Marina Bay is hardly the ideal place to take a hit as Singapore's slow corners, street layout and different surface make overtaking tough. If Red Bull has a choice, Singapore looks like a weekend to keep Hadjar's engine allocation as it is.