Hadjar explains what makes Verstappen such a tough driver to go up against at Red Bull

Isack Hadjar's sophomore season in Formula 1 has been something of a rollercoaster having been brought into Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen, occupying a spot which many have failed to keep over the years.

The Frenchman's impressive debut campaign in 2025, which included a podium at Zandvoort, certainly caught the attention of the Red Bull hierarchy and Hadjar has slowly adapted to the unique challenge – one he relishes – of being Verstappen's team mate in 2026.

A podium at Monaco was eventually confirmed, while another came last weekend in Azerbaijan on his most competitive weekend yet for Red Bull having challenged Verstappen – made even more impressive having missed the three previous races due to a wrist injury.

Speaking on the latest episode of official F1 podcast Beyond the Grid, Hadjar explained what it was like going up against the four-time World Champion in equal machinery.

“I'm probably facing the prime of the prime of the level you can achieve in Formula 1 and he’s just next to me in the garage. To experience this at my age, this early in my career, I'm one very, very lucky guy," said Hadjar.

"He's a very, very kind guy. We get along really well. It's good to work with him. I'm grateful because he gives me so much to work with, to improve, which probably no one else can give. So just for that, I'm thankful and it's great.

“I would say it’s exactly what I expected Max Verstappen to be on the track. I had an idea of how good he was and it translates really well. What I have in my mind that I want to achieve on track, he kind of does it. But there's always a difference between what you're aiming to do and what you actually deliver.

"There's always a little gap sometimes, but he's constant, he doesn't like really have low moments. I would say, it's just like no mistake. He's always at the right time, the right place as well. He creates his own luck a bit.

"But I love the challenge. I love going into every session knowing that he's going to set a benchmark that I need to match and I need to overcome. It's just exciting. It changes from everything I've had my whole career.

“Let's say on a track, you have like 15 corners and maybe there's one corner you master, or two, three, four, five corners, you do really, really well. But he matches you there and then on the others, he keeps that same level.

"And then over the lap, he makes the lap time difference. I wouldn't say I look at the data and I'm like, ‘I can't reproduce this.’ It's how often he does it. That makes the big difference at the end. It's like he has no peak, it’s flat. It's up there, but it's flat. It's what makes him such a tough driver.”

Prior to his best weekend of the season in Baku, Red Bull confirmed they would retain the services of Hadjar for 2027, something backed by Verstappen himself.

Hadjar's aspirations are certainly not lacking, and with a driver of Verstappen's calibre to learn from on the other side of the garage, he hopes more podiums and even wins are not too far away.

"I think so far now I've been doing a good job at being there," said Hadjar on his performances so far.

"But there's still that thing missing... There are a few things that I need to align a bit more. Sometimes it can be a race start that we compromise.

"Sometimes it's that first stint with the heavy car killing the tyres a bit early, being two positions up the grid in qualifying, you're missing half a tenth, and then you have a different Sunday unfortunately. It's all these little things you can align like Max does, and then you're in contention.”

To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond The Grid, simply hit go on the audio player above or click here to listen via your preferred podcasting platform.

You can also check out a huge selection of previous episodes – spanning every decade of F1 – in our dedicated Beyond The Grid library.

You can also watch the podcast on the F1 YouTube channel.