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Max Verstappen believes he would have started the Belgian Grand Prix much further down the grid without the qualifying support of Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar.
Hadjar was already facing a 30-place grid penalty after multiple power unit component changes, a situation covered in our report on his back-of-grid start at Spa. Red Bull therefore used the French/Algerian driver as Verstappen’s pace man during the final stage of qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps.
Hadjar provided a tow through the final sector on both of Verstappen’s flying laps in Q3. The second run appeared to leave Verstappen close behind his team-mate, but the Red Bull driver dismissed any suggestion that the positioning had compromised the attempt.
The assistance helped Verstappen secure second place, behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, for his third front-row start of the season.
“It was definitely helping me,” Verstappen said. “Otherwise, I would not be standing here, like P6 or something.”
He was clear that Hadjar’s contribution had been central to the result, particularly given that the junior Red Bull driver knew he would start the race at the back.
“Isack today, knowing he had to start at the back of the grid, he did a really good job giving me a tow in the final sector, and that’s why we are standing right here,” Verstappen added.
While qualifying delivered a strong result for Red Bull, Verstappen is less certain about the team’s prospects over a full race distance. George Russell will start third, with Lando Norris dropping to 12th after a 10-place grid penalty despite qualifying third fastest. Norris is promoted one position because of Hadjar’s penalty.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton complete the immediate group behind Russell, leaving Verstappen aware that pressure will come from several directions when the race begins.
“For sure, tomorrow, I’ll be looking in my mirrors at the people around me,” he said. “At least today, we had a really good result.”
Verstappen described the Red Bull as “quite decent” throughout the weekend, although he acknowledged it had not matched Antonelli’s Mercedes. The priority now is converting the front-row position into a competitive race result, with tyre performance over long runs still a major unknown.
“It’s always tough around here with the tyres on the long run. I will just do my best and see if we can hang in there or not,” Verstappen said.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.