​Isack Hadjar qualified fifth for the British Grand Prix, two places ahead of teammate Max Verstappen, who spent the weekend wrestling with balance and power unit issues. The result capped a strong follow-up to his points finish in Austria the week before and positioned Hadjar well in the pecking order heading into the race, even as he found himself ahead of Verstappen at the start.
Hadjar held onto that fifth place at the opening lap, but Verstappen managed to slip by on the fourth lap. Once behind the wheel, Hadjar began to notice a steady drop in pace and initially attributed it to tyre wear rather than a mechanical fault. He described a very promising start, noting that the pace in the first three laps had been excellent and that following Verstappen had come naturally. He added that it felt good to run in tandem and to push, but then a sudden, drastic drop in performance followed, leaving him puzzled about the root cause.
The team responded by pitting for fresh tyres in hopes of restoring pace, but the new rubber did not resolve the issue. Confusion inside the cockpit grew as the laps ticked by. Hadjar recalled thinking perhaps there had been some error in tyre management, and he tried switching to the hard, fresh tyres in search of better performance, only to find no improvement. It was not until Red Bull’s engineers conducted a second check that the problem was identified as front wing damage rather than tyre degradation, prompting a repair that would prove costly in time.
The wing change came with an eight-second pit-stop penalty and additional laps lost while the team diagnosed the issue. Yet once the front wing was replaced, Hadjar immediately felt a difference in balance and downforce. He explained that he was informed the car had been missing load, and once the new wing was fitted, the car came back to life almost instantly. “I went back again, and I gained nearly two seconds straight away,” he said, underscoring how the repaired aerodynamics transformed the car. Still, the damage had cast a long shadow over the weekend, leaving him to describe the race as “a waste of a race.”
Hadjar pointed to what might have been had the front wing damage not occurred. He argued that, with the proper balance and aero, he would have been capable of challenging Lando Norris for fourth place—their positions at the time suggesting the potential for a season-best result. The misfortune also deprived him of the chance to capitalize on a late safety car period triggered by Verstappen’s crash. The restart did not come in time for him to press forward in the closing laps, depriving him of another potential recovery opportunity and an opportunity to showcase the pace that was evident before the issue struck.
Reflecting on the weekend, Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies praised Hadjar’s progress and consistency, emphasising that each outing represents “a step forward” for the 21-year-old French driver. Mekies highlighted the improvement in Hadjar’s ability to deliver a steady performance and maintain competitiveness across sessions, even as the British Grand Prix weekend underscored the fragility that can accompany a developmental season.
Looking ahead, the Red Bull squad prepared for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, scheduled for July 17-19, with Hadjar continuing to develop and refine his technique, learn from each race, and translate that progress into strong results. While the British Grand Prix weekend ended in disappointment for Hadjar due to the front wing damage, the experience offered valuable lessons about managing aero integrity, diagnostics under pressure, and the impact of minor failures on race outcomes. The team remains optimistic about the trajectory of his progress and the potential for future opportunities to demonstrate the pace and consistency that have already been evident in his early-season performances.