(Motorsport-Total.com) – Isack Hadjar secured sixth place (result) at the Belgian Grand Prix and showed his “best race so far” for Red Bull, says team principal Laurent Mekies. The Frenchman had to start from the back of the field due to new engine parts but benefited from a curious strategy by his team.
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Hadjar initially started the race on hard tires. When the safety car was deployed after Mercedes driver George Russell went off track, he pitted after the first lap to switch to the medium compound. This formally fulfilled the regulation requirement for the Frenchman to use both tire compounds.
But already on the second lap, Hadjar pitted again to immediately switch back to the harder compound. Two tire changes within the first two laps initially caused some confusion – even for the driver himself. “I was a bit confused about the pit stops myself,” admits the Red Bull driver.
“Only after a few laps did I understand why we did that. I was probably a bit slow in the head,” adds the 21-year-old. “I just thought: Why did I take so many risks? You should have told me, then I would have just stayed last.”
Red Bull keeps all options open with Hadjar
In fact, Hadjar had fought forward with risky maneuvers right from the start and gained two positions, only to lose this progress immediately due to the immediate pit stop. “But of course, we couldn’t have known the safety car would come out.”
“That was initially a bit frustrating, but in the end, it paid off,” he openly admits. In an interview with the French broadcaster Canal+, Hadjar explains the real reason for the curious double stop at the start of the race: “The goal was to keep all options open for later.”
This tactical trick proved successful. “We lost a few positions, but we knew I would get them back quite quickly. That gave us more flexibility later. I then chose the hard tires because I preferred them – and it worked.”
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Photos: F1: Belgian Grand Prix (Spa) 2026
Theoretically, Hadjar could have finished the race on this set of tires, but Red Bull decided to make an additional regular pit stop later on. The stop coincided exactly with the virtual safety car phase, which saved the Frenchman a significant amount of time.
Team principal Mekies praises “best race for Red Bull”
The brilliant strategy was not the only factor in Hadjar’s strong advance into the top 10. His pace was also convincing across the board: on average, his ten fastest race laps were 1:49.727 minutes – even a fraction faster than his teammate Max Verstappen’s time (1:49.809 minutes) in third place.
He received the highest praise from the pit wall. “That was without a doubt his best race for us,” raves team principal Laurent Mekies. “And this is not a one-off. He gets a little bit faster from race to race. Every time he gets in the car, he brings a bit more speed.”
In the final phase, Hadjar defended his sixth place against McLaren driver Lando Norris. The Briton had started the race from 13th position and made his only pit stop only on lap 30, without being able to use the advantage of the virtual safety car. Therefore, Hadjar finished ahead of the current world champion.
“This weekend he took the next step because he was already very fast from the first free practice,” sums up Mekies. “We put him on a somewhat unusual strategy, which ultimately gave him the opportunity to beat Lando thanks to the timing of the virtual safety car phase.”
“He was extremely strong today,” adds the team principal. “His pace was among the top three in the field. That’s why we are very satisfied with his development.” In the drivers’ championship, Hadjar ranks eighth, only 31 points behind his teammate Verstappen.
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