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Red Bull’s start problems have become one of the clearest operational weaknesses of its Formula 1 season, with both Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar continuing to suffer inconsistent launches. There have been occasional clean getaways, but the broader pattern remains damaging: too often, Red Bull drivers are losing positions before the race has properly begun.
The contrast with rivals is increasingly uncomfortable. Mercedes also struggled earlier in the campaign, with Kimi Antonelli among the weakest starters in the opening rounds and regularly dropping places off the line. Yet Mercedes appears to have found a solution, with Antonelli now producing cleaner launches across the last three race weekends.
At Red Bull, the issue remains unresolved. The team’s start procedure is now under direct scrutiny, not simply because the launches are poor, but because the operating window appears too narrow for drivers to execute reliably under race pressure. That concern followed a Barcelona weekend in which Hadjar had already shown strong pace, as covered in our report on Hadjar being puzzled by Red Bull’s sudden Barcelona qualifying surge.
Barcelona exposed the problem brutally. Hadjar qualified sixth and lined up directly behind his team-mate, only to suffer a disastrous launch and fall to 14th by Turn 1. Losing eight places before the first corner turned a promising grid position into a recovery drive, even though he fought back to finish sixth.
Hadjar did not disguise his frustration afterwards, calling the start a “nightmare” and urging Red Bull to act quickly.
“We just need to work on our starts, because it’s just yeah it’s not possible to keep going like that,” he told F1 TV. “Every race weekend it’s the same story. Today was a nightmare, but the whole weekend I was struggling. It’s really the point we need to work on because everyone’s made progress, but I went backwards [again]. So, yeah, procedure is too difficult. Window is too small.”
He expanded further in the media pen, pointing to the unrealistic precision demanded by the current process.
“I’m not a computer, I’m not a machine, I can’t be 0.0001% precise. It’s not working.”
Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies acknowledged the weakness, linking it to the team’s challenge in finding the correct operating window for its new power unit.
“We have had weak starts so far this season,” Mekies said. “It’s part of year one as power unit manufacturers. We learned there is a lot of things we need to improve and to work out between chassis side and PU side.”
He maintained that Red Bull has “a very good power unit”, but admitted it operates in “a very narrow window”. For Hadjar, that narrowness is no longer a detail — it is a race-defining flaw Red Bull must fix.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.