Isack Hadjar given 'honest' appraisal as Max Verstappen team-mate

Anthony Davidson believes Isack Hadjar is faring better alongside Max Verstappen than many of the Dutchman's previous team-mates.

The 21-year-old is, on average, just over two tenths of a second slower in qualifying through the opening 11 rounds of the 2026 season, which is closer than others have been — and better than Red Bull's purported three-tenths deficit maximum target.

Since Daniel Ricciardo departed the Milton Keynes-based squad at the end of 2018, a succession of drivers have tried and failed to make the team's second seat their own.

Pierre Gasly lasted just 11 rounds alongside Verstappen, with Alex Albon afforded only a year-and-a-half before being jettisoned for Sergio Perez.

The Mexican driver enjoyed two strong seasons at Red Bull before his performance started to wane. Still, he managed five grand prix victories for the team during its second era of dominance, but could not save himself from the same fate that befell those before him.

Liam Lawson managed just two rounds to open the 2025 campaign, before being switched for Yuki Tsunoda, who fared marginally better than the New Zealander.

Against that backdrop, the opening salvo to Hadjar's Red Bull tenure has looked proven a relative success, with the Frenchman scoring 68 points in the first half of the season, comfortably more than double the 30 Tsunoda achieved in twice the number of rounds.

"Stepping up alongside Max Verstappen is always going to be a very difficult challenge, but it's nice to know where the benchmark is as a driver," Davidson said on Sky Sports F1.

"When you start on this journey, as we all do as young go-karters, you like to think that you're the best in the world, and when you step up to Formula 1, you meet people that are definitely as good as yourself, if not better, and mentally that's a big hurdle to get over.

"I think, especially when you go up against someone like Max Verstappen, you've got the benchmark of where you need to be. There's nowhere to hide, and so it's an honest experience for Hadjar, and he's a very honest person and athlete."

Hadjar has shown flashes of genuine promise, qualifying on the second row in Melbourne and taking a best finish of fourth in Monaco.

The raw numbers compare favourably with those who came before him. None of Verstappen's team-mates since Ricciardo have managed to keep the qualifying gap under three tenths on a sustained basis, and Davidson was keen to underline the significance of that.

"I think he's doing very, very well; better than a lot of Red Bull drivers have managed alongside Verstappen," he added.

"On average, he's just under two tenths [slower] in qualifying, and he's done it yet again here. So he should be proud of what he's done so far."

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