Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies believes Isack Hadjar "absolutely nailed" his debut with the team, despite not finishing the Australian Grand Prix.

Hadjar was making his Red Bull debut in Melbourne after being promoted from Racing Bulls for the 2026 Formula One season.

While team-mate Max Verstappen crashed out in the first qualifying session at Albert Park, Hadjar started the opening race of the season in third, behind both Mercedes drivers.

However, the Frenchman was forced to retire his car on lap 11 during Sunday's race due to a battery issue, with all 22 drivers still acclimatising to their new regulation cars.

Despite the DNF, Mekies insisted it was a positive start at Red Bull for the 21-year-old driver.

"He had a fantastic weekend," Mekies said. "Coming here, [he had] fairly limited mileage in testing, with a bit of lack of luck there. And he came here from the very first lap in FP1 on Friday at the right pace.

"We were able to split the testing programme between the cars and get double the amount of information.

"He went to qualifying with everything that [is entailed for] a first time qualifying with these rules. Absolutely nailed it. Put the car in P3, which is probably as high as it could have been on Saturday.

"So, you know, hats off, really. And today, he was on his way to have a mega start before he realised we didn't have the battery charge."

Hadjar will have the opportunity to get his first points on the board as a Red Bull driver during this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.