Isack Hadjar disagrees with every other F1 driver about the 2026 cars after first laps for Red Bull

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Isack Hadjar has been getting to grips with his RB22 in Barcelona this week, and he has had some rather interesting comments about the 2026 cars.

It is all change for the Frenchman this season, as he joins Red Bull in a transition period. Along with the departure of several key figures, including Christian Horner and Helmut Marko, he has to get accustomed to the team’s in-house power unit.

The 21-year-old has been testing at the Circuit de Catalunya alongside teammate Max Verstappen in the official shakedown session. Hadjar topped the timesheets on day one and completed over 100 laps, more than he was expecting.

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But Hadjar crashed on day two, delaying Verstappen and Red Bull’s run later on, and maybe for the rest of testing. It is little cause for concern, however, as the main focus will be on whether the team can make a difference with the new regulations.

Red Bull are using an ‘innovative’ front wing design in a bid to improve airflow. Furthermore, Red Bull have taken Mercedes and Ferrari’s trick to the ‘extreme’ with a hole in the rear diffuser.

The point of Barcelona will be for Hadjar to get a feel for the RB22 and test out various components. After getting out of the car, he had some remarks that his colleagues did not agree with.

Isack Hadjar disagrees with every other F1 driver that the 2026 cars are ‘different’ to drive

The 2026 F1 regulations have brought radical new cars to the track, with a 50/50 split between internal combustion engine and electrical power, no DRS, which is replaced by overtake mode and the front wing flaps opening, as well as the need to recharge the battery.

Obviously, there are quite stark differences between the new spec and the previous generation. Yet, as per Motor Sport Magazine, Hadjar does not actually think there is much difference at all.

“We were able to do a lot more laps than expected,” he said. “It all went pretty smooth. The car itself feels a bit more predictable than last year, more simple, easy to play around with.

“We have more options on the PU side and I was already starting to play about with it. It was a really decent PU for first day and the driving doesn’t really feel too different from before.”

Should Red Bull be worried about Isack Hadjar’s testing crash?

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His comments completely contrast with his fellow colleagues, who found a much different feeling from the 2026 machine. Cadillac’s Sergio Perez said: “These cars are massively different. It’s still early days but this is the biggest reg change in my career and it’s a real challenge.”

His teammate Valtteri Bottas was in agreement: “There’s a big difference; they handle different, there’s less load in high-speed corners but so much more torque out of the corners. Then you have to manage the battery. It’s a big learning curve.”

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad agreed that the cars were ‘very different’, while George Russell also agreed, but said that the car ‘feels quite intuitive’ once one gets the hand of it.

It is unclear why Hadjar does not feel much difference between this year and last year’s rule set, but what is clear is that he is in the minority with his statements.

READ MORE: Who is 2026 Red Bull F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know

Lando Norris makes ‘pretty different’ verdict after testing 2026 McLaren in Barcelona

Speaking to F1.com after his first run, McLaren driver and defending champion also disagrees with Hadjar about the new cars. But he expressed excitement over the challenge of getting used to his MCL40.

“It’s pretty different,” he said. “It’s pretty different. Not even a huge step. It’s a bit of a step slower in terms of cornering speeds, in terms of acceleration and straight line speed, it probably feels quicker than it did last year.

“You get to 340,350 kph quite a bit quicker than we did in previous years. So, it’s a bit more of a challenge in many places, which is a good thing. But then you have a bit more to understand from the battery, the power unit, all of those things are in some ways more complicated.

“And just different. And whenever something’s different, it always takes a bit of time to figure out the best way to look at it, to manage it, to use it.”