Racing
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Red Bull newcomer Isack Hadjar says Max Verstappen has been open with him from the start, but his early verdict is that the four-time world champion still represents the highest benchmark he has faced in Formula 1.
Hadjar’s first races alongside Verstappen have been strong enough to mark him out as one of the Dutchman’s more competitive recent team-mates. He has already outqualified Verstappen twice and finished within 0.12s of him on four other occasions, a sign that the gap over one lap has often been manageable even inside Red Bull’s most pressurized seat.
What stands out to Hadjar is that Verstappen has not tried to protect any advantage behind closed doors. Asked about their working relationship, Hadjar told Motorsport: “He definitely doesn't ask me for advice, but if I ask him, he answers. If I need information, he's very open, very kind. So, he doesn't hide anything because he knows he's strong.”
That openness has not made the comparison any easier. Hadjar said Verstappen is so complete that even finding one part of the lap where he has the edge feels unusual. “If there is even one corner where I am faster than him, that alone would be special,” he said. “In every team-mate I've worked with, there has always been a weakness. There was somewhere during the weekend where I was clearly faster. But Max is different.”
He added that Verstappen’s level is not just about headline pace. “He's unbelievably consistent, and that level is very high. It's really impressive.”
That split between promise and reality is clearest on Sundays. Hadjar has finished ahead of Verstappen in a grand prix only twice, in China and Monaco, and both came after Verstappen retired. In races where both reached the flag, Hadjar has averaged 53.692 seconds behind at the finish. Even stripping out a Canada race affected by a penalty, the gap remained stark in Barcelona, where he was 67.5 seconds back.
Hadjar has presented that as part of the learning curve of racing alongside Verstappen. He said he was pleased with the hardest part of the job, staying close to his team-mate, but more frustrated by avoidable errors. “I believe I handled the difficult things well, namely being close to Max,” he said. “In the easy things, though, I made mistakes.” That included a disappointing Miami weekend before a recovery in Monaco, where he claimed his first podium with the team before it was later withdrawn by the FIA.
He sees those mistakes as the main weakness still holding him back, rather than a lack of raw speed. “Ideally you don't repeat them. That's the goal,” Hadjar said. “It's not always easy, but I don't really care. I'm young, it's my second year, I make the mistakes now.”
For Red Bull, that leaves Hadjar’s start looking encouraging but unfinished: close enough to Verstappen at times to suggest real potential, yet still far enough away over race distance that his next step will be cutting out the small errors he believes should disappear once he is fighting for bigger stakes. As Hadjar put it: “When I have a car to be world champion, I don't make the mistakes. That's the idea.”