Hadjar reveals how Verstappen's openness helps him survive Red Bull's toughest test

Isack Hadjar says Max Verstappen hides nothing from him — because the four-time world champion knows he has nothing to fear. The French rookie, in his sophomore F1 season after graduating to Red Bull for 2025, has offered a candid account of what it is like to share a garage with the sport’s dominant force.

Hadjar’s arrival at Milton Keynes came on the back of a convincing debut campaign, and his early performances have been more competitive than those of his predecessors. He has outqualified Verstappen twice and finished within 0.12 seconds of the team leader on four further occasions — a record that stands in sharp contrast to the struggles of Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda before him.

Yet Hadjar is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge. “There’s just no time to be lazy, really,” he said. “It’s like every time you go on track, he sets a lap, and it’s the highest level you’ve ever seen, and you’re like, ‘Okay, I need to make a big step here and there’ — and it takes a lot of you to be matching that, and be even just close to that. Every time I’m out on track, I know I need to dig very deep, because it’s super impressive.”

On the nature of their working relationship, Hadjar was clear about the dynamic. “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.”

The pressure of chasing Verstappen has not been without cost. Hadjar crashed out of the Miami Grand Prix and struck the wall during free practice in Monaco, mistakes he is treating as part of a deliberate learning curve rather than causes for alarm.

“Ideally you don’t repeat them. That’s the goal,” he said with a laugh. “It’s not always easy, but I don’t really care. I’m young, it’s my second year, I make the mistakes now. When I have a car to be world champion, I don’t make the mistakes. That’s the idea. But I’m more focused on my own performance. I get to compare myself to the best on the grid. That’s what I put my focus on at the moment.”

For a team that has watched a succession of drivers wilt under Verstappen’s shadow, Hadjar’s composure and relative pace represent an early sign that Red Bull may finally have found a team-mate capable of sustaining the comparison.