– At the Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar thrilled with a comeback. The 21-year-old managed to fight his way from starting position 21 to sixth place. A performance that did not go unnoticed by Formula 1 expert Ralf Schumacher.
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“I believe he’s closer than Max sometimes likes,” he said in the “Backstage Boxengasse” podcast. Schumacher emphasized: “But for the team, it’s good to have someone who is on par, someone you can count on.”
Especially for the development of the RB22, the former Grand Prix driver considers Hadjar’s abilities to be elementary. He is a driver who “can adapt to situations very quickly.”
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Team boss Laurent Mekies is also extremely enthusiastic about his protégé’s form. After the Belgian Grand Prix, he described Hadjar’s race as his best performance to date for the Red Bulls.
The Red Bull driver started the Grand Prix on Sunday with hard tires. Already on the first lap, Hadjar turned towards the pit lane after a collision between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton triggered the first and only regular safety car of the afternoon.
Although Hadjar took medium tires here, he drove back to the pits on the following lap to get the next set of hard tires. Hadjar made his last stop during one of the virtual safety car phases.
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Furthermore, the former Racing Bulls driver also shone in terms of pace on the Ardennes rollercoaster. On average, his ten fastest race laps were clocked at 1:49.727 minutes.
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If you draw a direct comparison with Max Verstappen (1:49.809 minutes), Hadjar was even a little faster. However, the four-time world champion finished the Belgian Grand Prix in third place.
Schumacher adds: “Aerodynamically, the Red Bull has always been good on such tracks anyway. I would have been surprised if it hadn’t worked.”
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In a direct duel, Hadjar remains behind his teammate. In the Drivers’ World Championship, he is in eighth position with 60 points, while Verstappen is in seventh position with 91 points. In the direct qualifying duel, it’s 11 to 3 for the four-time world champion.
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