'Happy with the overall pace' - Hadjar reflects on Singapore Grand Prix recovery drive from the back

Despite starting from the pit lane, Isack Hadjar was able to salvage a point from his weekend in Singapore.

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE - OCTOBER 10: Isack Hadjar of France and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks dejected

Isack Hadjar admits he was "happy with the overall pace" during last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, as the Red Bull driver recovered to P10 from the pit lane.

The Frenchman suffered a difficult event around the streets of Marina Bay as technical issues plagued his RB22, forcing Hadjar to retire from the Sprint and preventing him from posting a lap time in Grand Prix Qualifying.

With new power unit changes made, Hadjar started from the pit lane for Sunday's 62-lap race, eventually moving up to P10 and snatching the final point at the expense of Alpine's Pierre Gasly in the closing laps.

"At some point I was nearly dead last," said Hadjar afterwards. "Fernando [Alonso] overtook me, I had software issues, just a painful start but then we got back to it.

"On the medium [tyre] it was just damage limitation – I feel like I knew it was the weaker compound this weekend and the soft was working really well.

"So once I was on it, I didn't have many laps to do on it, I had to just be flat-out and I was very fast. I enjoyed it honestly. I was flat-out, not much management and good overtakes."

While Hadjar managed to climb up through the order – finishing just six seconds behind George Russell's Mercedes which also started at the back – his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen claimed victory.

Having shown his own impressive pace in the final phase of the race, Hadjar was optimistic about Red Bull's potential in the coming races, but that reliability was still an issue the team needed to resolve.

"It's good to have had everything new today during the race. At the same time, it's not like we know how to avoid these issues yet," explained Hadjar.

"We don't have a guarantee this won't happen again, so in the next two weeks, big work to investigate that and make sure it doesn't happen again.

"But honestly, I'm happy with the overall pace. Max is winning, [I had] great pace today from last, so I'm confident for the next couple of races."

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