Hadjar Handed Five-Place Grid Penalty in Malaysia — Not Even His Fault (Technically)
Isack Hadjar will line up five places further back than he otherwise would this Saturday at Sepang — a classic piece of Formula 1 bureaucracy arriving just as the sport returns to Malaysia after an eight-year absence. The reason: his Red Bull has blown through its allocated power unit component limit for the 2026 season. The rules show no mercy — the first component over the limit costs 10 grid places, every subsequent one costs five. Hadjar has already cleared the 10-place threshold on every component, so the five-place penalty is effectively the leftover bill.
The twist: the components count against Hadjar’s allocation, not Liam Lawson’s, even though Lawson filled in while Hadjar recovered from injury — as if the car remembers exactly who it belongs to, regardless of who happens to be driving it that weekend.
Hadjar himself seems unbothered. “It is a bit difficult for me as I should be taking a five-place grid penalty, but even like that, I believe it is true that if you have the race pace, you will go up the order,” he said. He also pointed to an unlikely ace up his sleeve: teammate Max Verstappen, the last man to win at Sepang back in 2017. “He knows the secrets of the track… to have him as the last winner is definitely an advantage.”
Source: racingnews365 (https://racingnews365.com/isack-hadjar-confirms-red-bull-grid-penalty-upon-f1s-malaysia-return)
