Hadjar Humbled by Verstappen Partnership, Calls It “Dream Scenario” at Red Bull

Red Bull Racing’s Isack Hadjar considers himself “very, very lucky” to be sharing the garage with four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen, describing the experience as facing the “prime of the prime” in the sport.

The 22-year-old, who recently extended his contract with the Milton Keynes team through 2027, has taken on the challenging task of racing alongside one of F1’s most dominant drivers.

Speaking on Formula 1’s Beyond The Grid podcast, Hadjar shared his thoughts on what it’s like competing alongside Verstappen daily.

“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,” Hadjar explained. “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.”

“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.”

While Hadjar believes his single-lap speed is competitive, he acknowledges that Verstappen’s race-day performance remains unmatched.

“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,” he continued.

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Liam Fabre

“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.

“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. He creates his own luck a bit.

“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. He has no peak. It’s flat. It’s up there, but it’s flat. It’s what makes him such a tough driver.”

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