Max Verstappen stated that Isack Hadjar’s help in qualifying this Saturday (18) was decisive in securing a place on the front row of the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix in Formula 1. According to the Dutchman, without the slipstream provided by his teammate during Q3, the result would have been very different.
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The Frenchman received a 30-place grid penalty for changing several power unit components. As a result, Red Bull used the competitor to provide a slipstream to the four-time world champion in the final sector of Spa-Francorchamps during his two fast laps in Q3. This secured second position on the grid, behind only Kimi Antonelli.
“That definitely helped me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here, I would be sixth or something like that,” Verstappen said. “Isack today, knowing he had to start from the back of the grid, did a really good job giving me a slipstream in the final sector, and that’s why we’re here.”
Despite the good qualifying result, Verstappen avoided making optimistic predictions for the race. George Russell starts just behind, in third, while Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton complete the top positions on the grid. Lando Norris, who was the third fastest in qualifying, will start from 12th position after receiving a ten-place grid penalty, although he moves up one place due to Hadjar’s penalty.
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“For sure, tomorrow I will be looking in the mirrors at the people around me. At least today we had a very good result. I think the car has been quite competitive throughout the weekend, of course not at Kimi’s level, but we are happy to be on the front row, for the way we executed everything as a team,” he said.
Regarding the race pace, Verstappen showed caution. “It’s always difficult here to manage the tires in long stints. I’ll just do my best and see if we can stay in the fight or not,” he concluded.
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