Isack Hadjar pulls back the curtain on the challenges of having Max Verstappen as his teammate
Isack Hadjar has pulled back the curtain on the challenge of being Max Verstappen’s teammate, and the French driver has termed himself lucky to find himself in this situation. Hadjar made his F1 debut in 2025 with Racing Bulls and ended up impressing everyone with the level at which he was performing.
With Yuki Tsunoda adding himself to the long list of drivers who weren’t able to keep up with Max Verstappen, the door opened for an opportunity at Red Bull for Isack Hadjar in just his second season in F1.
Contrary to expectations that Hadjar would get blown away by Max Verstappen in the same car, the French driver has been very impressive in what he’s been able to achieve in the car. He’s got a couple of podiums to his name this year, and even though Verstappen has had the upper hand over Hadjar, the gap has not been massive.
In a recent interview on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Hadjar opened up about what it meant to be the teammate of the 4x F1 champion. Terming the whole situation fortunate, the driver said,
“I know 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. So to experience this at my age, this early in my career, I’m one very, very lucky guy. So just for that, I’m thankful, and it’s great.”
He added,
“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 everything I’ve had my whole career.”
Isack Hadjar terms the experience of racing alongside Max Verstappen just like he expected
Heading to Red Bull in just his second year in the sport was always going to be an uphill task for Isack Hadjar. Max Verstappen has racked up an extensive list of drivers who had been paired with him, and it led to them getting dominated, mentally exhausted, and then dropped.
Isack Hadjar has been fortunate enough not to have had a similar experience. When questioned about his experience of being teamed up with Max Verstappen, the driver said that it was just like what he expected before joining. He said,
“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 does it. But there’s always a difference between what you’re aiming to do and what you actually deliver.”
He added,
“There’s always a little gap sometimes, but he’s constant. He doesn’t really have low moments. He makes no mistakes. He’s always at the right time, the right place as well.”
Isack Hadjar has had a strong run with the team, even though there’s a clear gulf between what he’s been able to do in the car and what Max Verstappen has done. With that being said, the last couple of races do show a worrying pattern, as Verstappen seems to have taken things to a whole other level while Hadjar is still trying to keep up.
He would be hoping to hit his stride once again in Austin as he tries to make the most of the upgraded Red Bull under him.
