Red Bull should be worried by what Isack Hadjar has just said about Max Verstappen

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Red Bull should have several reasons to be worried by Isack Hadjar’s surprise at being faster than Max Verstappen, even in only one corner, in their first term as teammates.

Hadjar moved up from Racing Bulls to join Verstappen at Red Bull for the 2026 season, with Yuki Tsunoda shuffled into a reserve driver role to accommodate the Frenchman’s arrival. It has proven to be the right call, too, with Hadjar already beating Tsunoda’s 2025 points tally.

While Tsunoda scored just 30 of Red Bull’s 451 points across his 22 rounds with the team in 2025, Hadjar has already amassed 34 points from seven rounds. The 21-year-old’s tally also lags just slightly behind the 55 points that Verstappen boasts in the RB22 so far this season.

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Isack Hadjar admits it surprises him to be faster than Max Verstappen ‘in just one corner’

Red Bull immediately felt Hadjar was proving himself as Verstappen’s teammate with what the Parisian produced in the early rounds of the season, too. But speaking after last week’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, Hadjar shared that he is still surprised to beat Verstappen.

READ MORE: Who is 2026 Red Bull F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know

“It is quite something if you are faster than him in just one corner,” Hadjar told Viaplay, via quotes by RacingNews365.

“Every teammate I have [had has] had a weak spot somewhere, for example, a corner where you are clearly faster the entire weekend. But with Max, it’s different. He is so consistent, and also at an enormously high level. That is truly impressive.”

Red Bull should not be impressed, as they need Hadjar to assuage their Verstappen fears

Red Bull should not be impressed by Hadjar’s admission, though, as they should be seeing a convergence between what their academy product is producing in the RB22 and what they know Verstappen can offer. Hadjar does not have to beat Verstappen, but he must be close.

So far in his fledgling Red Bull career, Hadjar has only been classified ahead of Verstappen in a Grand Prix when the latter retired in China and Monaco. Also, when they have both taken a chequered flag in 2026, Hadjar has finished 53.692 seconds shy of Verstappen on average.

Hadjar’s penalty-laden performance in Canada partly skews that average, but he finished an uncomfortable 67.5s behind Verstappen in Barcelona, too, when he lost a heap of places off the line. Red Bull will not want to see Hadjar regularly be finishing so far behind Verstappen.

It is even more important that Hadjar shows he can close the deficits that are emerging with his race pace compared to Verstappen’s with the uncertainty that surrounds the Dutchman’s future in Milton Keynes, too. Right now, Red Bull would have to look for a new number one.

Hadjar is not showing Red Bull that he can take the lead role if Verstappen’s frequent threats to retire from F1 materialise, or a rival squad tempts the four-time champion to use the exit clause in his contract that is highly likely to be on offer to him after the summer 2026 break.

It is believed that Verstappen will have from August to October to activate his release clause should he start the summer 2026 break ranked outside the top two in the drivers’ standings, and he is currently P7. A decision on Verstappen’s future at Red Bull could also come sooner.

Agent Raymond Vermeulen has revealed that Verstappen will tell Red Bull his plans for 2027 “soon”, as the Dutchman does not want to leave the team in the lurch for long. Should that decision be to quit Red Bull, then Hadjar will have to be the one surprising in a positive way.