Verstappen says Hadjar tow turned P6 into P2

Max Verstappen qualified second for the Belgian Grand Prix and said Isack Hadjar’s Q3 tow was the reason Red Bull turned a likely third-row result into a front-row start at Spa-Francorchamps.

With Hadjar already condemned to the back of the grid after taking new power unit components outside his allocation, primarily the engine, turbo and exhaust, Red Bull kept him in Q3 to act as Verstappen’s tow car through Blanchimont and on the run to the final chicane. Verstappen said the plan made the difference in a session where Red Bull felt it had little lap time left to find on its own.

“But the car was good and then of course Isack in Q3 helped me a lot with the tow in the final sector, that’s why of course I’m sitting here, otherwise it could have easily been P6,” Verstappen said in the post-qualifying press conference. “The gaps behind was so close, so thank you to him for that. I think as a team we did everything we could.”

That team play was not straightforward. On the first Q3 attempt, Hadjar backed off out of Turn 15 so Verstappen could close in, but the run did not come together cleanly. Hadjar later explained that the energy deployment became “confused” when he had to slow before accelerating again, leaving him with “way too much power” and causing him to pull away from Verstappen.

The second attempt worked better, even if it briefly looked risky. Verstappen closed dramatically on Hadjar in the final sector, at one point appearing almost too close before the chicane, but he still made the braking point and briefly went to the top of the order. He later joked that he was so committed he would have “just pushed him,” before adding that Hadjar “did amazing” and that he trusted him.

The cleaner second tow was part of a 0.3-second gain over Verstappen’s first Q3 lap. He had already found 0.15s with a better exit from Turn 9 before the improved final-sector slipstream completed the improvement. It still left him three tenths short of Kimi Antonelli, who secured pole.

Verstappen said Red Bull had already reached the point where extracting more time without help was difficult. “Overall the whole weekend the balance of the car has been quite decent,” he said. “I think we’re just a bit slow in the straight.” He added that the car was in its operating window, but “flat is flat, so there’s no more time to gain in corners,” which made Hadjar’s contribution decisive in keeping Red Bull ahead of the tightly packed group behind.