Isack Hadjar says Red Bull's power unit doesn’t feel far off from what he's used to

Hadjar kicked off Red Bull Racing's private shakedown in Barcelona on Monday and managed an impressive 107 laps in the RB22 while also posting the fastest lap of the day.

“It was pretty productive," he said. "Surprisingly we managed to do a lot more laps than expected. Everything went quite smoothly.

"We only had minor issues, so it’s quite impressive considering this was our first day with our own engine," he added.

Asked how Red Bull Ford Powertrains' offering felt, the Frenchman added: "Honestly, it was pretty decent for a first day.

"It doesn’t feel too far off from what I’m used to based on my first season. All the upshifts and downshifts were okay. There are still a few things to tweak, of course, but it has been solid," he explained.

In addition to the 107 laps in the RB22, the Red Bull Ford power unit did 88 laps in the VCARB 03 with Liam Lawson at the wheel.

“We did a good amount of laps today [Monday]," Lawson said. "Obviously, we learned a lot. We had a few little issues along the way, which were expected on day one. But I think we are in a decent place."

Lawson did, however, suffer from an issue out on track, but he downplayed it saying: "The only issues we really had were safety precautions, not any actual issues.

"On the power unit side, it's been very, very good so far. But again, it’s hard to know where we're at compared to everybody else. But definitely, we'll keep learning over the next few days.”

Mattia Spini, Racing Bulls’ chief race engineer, explained Lawson's stoppage, saying: “The moment on the grid was nothing important.

"It was just related to some safety settings that we put in the car just to not damage anything as a precaution. That’s what happened there. We just tuned the settings, and in the afternoon it was perfectly fine.”

“The power unit is working fine," Spini went on. "Again, it's not perfect, but we didn't expect it to be.

"We certainly need to work [on several aspects], but we are working really well together. At Red Bull Powertrains and also the engineers with us and in the factory, they are really open and honest. The relationship is really good between the two groups.

"Actually, we are almost the same team, but we started working really well, and I'm sure we’ll keep working in that direction.

"We are going to fine-tune the power unit for the first race," the Racing Bulls engineer concluded. (Quotes from F1 TV)