Many things have changed this year in Formula 1, but surely none have caught the paddock by surprise quite like this: Max Verstappen isn’t crushing his new teammate. In fact, Isack Hadjar is outperforming the Dutchman in qualifying, and the gap in the races isn’t as wide as one might expect given the incidents.
It isn’t just a matter of the Red Bull being uncompetitive and not delivering a clear advantage. In general, this reflects a logical consequence of the limited development pace caused by the regulation change. Verstappen still hasn’t managed to find a development path that would tilt things in his favor… if he doesn’t retire first.
Verstappen still hasn’t steered development in his favor
After repeatedly beating Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Sergio Pérez, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda, few would have predicted that Isack Hadjar would be the driver capable of containing Max Verstappen’s fury. Yet after three races, the two Red Bull drivers are fairly evenly matched.
In fact, Hadjar beats Verstappen in Saturday qualifying two to one. This past weekend at Suzuka we saw Verstappen eliminated in Q2 while his teammate advanced to Q3, something quite unusual. In the race Verstappen staged a comeback and secured Red Bull’s only points in Japan, but the overall outlook has clearly shifted.
Yes, Verstappen remains ahead of Hadjar. No sensible person would expect otherwise. But the French sophomore is becoming the worthy teammate Verstappen never had since Pérez’s form fell off in mid-2023. And it’s no accident that that moment comes exactly now. It aligns with the current situation.
And the point is that with only three rounds under the current regulations, Verstappen still hasn’t managed to influence the car’s development. Put differently, Red Bull has not begun to radically tailor its single-seater to a unique and unmatched driver, which technically tends to spell the death of a more ordinary teammate.
It’s no coincidence that after a 2021 that was light-years away from Verstappen, Perez suddenly regained a respectable level in 2022, just as the technical regulations changed, and began to lose it again by mid-2023, when that Red Bull started developing to fit Verstappen. This is the great challenge Laurent Mekies will have to confront.
Although perhaps the “problem” will disappear from view and Verstappen might opt to retire, or to switch teams. Everyone at Red Bull would mourn it except one, Isack Hadjar.
Images | Red Bull
