Verstappen credits Hadjar role for his front row start

Max Verstappen gave credit to Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar for his role in earning the Dutchman a front row start at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hadjar has a grid penalty that will see him start from the back of the field on Sunday, having taken a new power unit at the start of the race weekend. After reaching Q3, Hadjar then played the support role by providing Verstappen with a tow in the final sector on each of his two runs, with the second attempt particularly effective as Verstappen ended up second on the grid.

“The whole weekend, the balance of the car has been quite decent,” Verstappen said. “I think we’re just a bit slow on the straight, but the car has been in the window, just trying to fine-tune it a little bit. It was the same in qualifying.

“At one point, you’re a bit stuck in terms of how much more lap time you can extract out of it, to be honest, because every lap that I did was a little bit faster. But at one point, flat is flat, so there’s no more time to gain in corners. That’s something maybe we have to review. Maybe we’re too easily flat; I don’t know.

“But the car was good, and then, of course, Isack in Q3 helped me a lot with the tow in the final sector. That’s why I’m sitting here. Otherwise, it could have easily been P6 because the gaps behind were so close. So, yeah, thank you to him for that. I think, as a team, we did everything we could.”

Verstappen admits he had a moment when he felt the final attempt was going to fail, but praised Hadjar’s timing to deliver a strong tow on the run to the Bus Stop chicane.

“It was flat out. I would have just pushed him! It was close, but he did amazing. I initially thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s too close,’ but then actually it worked out well to the last corner. It was close, but I trusted him.

“We talked about it, and I think it was quite easily agreed, so we knew what to do. You always try to make it better from run one to run two. I think Isack did that really well. And why do it on that straight? I think you have a little bit less of an SM mode, so it’s a bit more draggy. That’s why, I guess, it helps maybe a little bit more. I think it’s very even. In FP3, for whatever reason, I had two times a tow in Sector 1 and 3, and they were quite equal.

“He’s been very easy to work with. Come on, we’re Formula 1 drivers. I think you should be able to do stuff like that, and I think he’s a smart kid, so he knows what to do in that circumstance.”