Verstappen: "I would not be standing here" without Hadjar's tow at Spa

Credit: Formula One

Max Verstappen will start Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix from second on the grid, his third front row of the season. However, he was in no mood to claim the lap as his own. It belonged just as much to Isack Hadjar, who sacrificed his own final Q3 run to tow his teammate through Spa-Francorchamps' flat-out final sector, twice, with the second attempt so close the pair nearly touched through Blanchimont on the run to the chicane.

Hadjar knew exactly what he was giving up. Handed a new power unit components beyond his season's allocation, he was already resigned to starting Sunday's race from the back of the grid regardless of what he did in Q3. Red Bull used that reality to full advantage.

Verstappen didn't pretend the result was down to raw pace alone. "It was definitely helping me, otherwise I would not be standing here," he said. "Otherwise I think you're like P6 or something. I think Isack [Hadjar] today, knowing that he has to start at the back of the grid, did a really good job giving me a tow in the final sector, and that's why we're standing right here."

It's a rare admission from a four-time champion, and a pointed one. Verstappen went on to describe the weekend's overall balance as encouraging even without the assist. "I think the car, honestly, has been quite decent the whole weekend," he said. "Of course, not on the level of what Kimi [Antonelli] was doing, but we're happy to be on the front row with how we executed it as a team."

The tow itself produced a moment of genuine tension on the pit wall. From the outside, it looked like Verstappen had been forced to back off to avoid running into the back of Hadjar's car through the chicane. He insisted otherwise. "No, it was flat out," he said. "I would have just pushed him. It was close, but he did amazing. I initially thought, 'Oh my God, it's too close,' but then actually it worked out well to the last corner. It was close, but I trusted him."

Credit: Formula One

For Hadjar, watching the gap close in his mirrors while knowing his own qualifying effort was already sacrificed, the read was simpler. "I don't know if I really helped him into second, probably," he said, "but he drove very well and anyway he would have been at the front, but to give that bonus was definitely the right thing to do. I'm happy for the team, I'm happy for him."

Even with the slipstream, Red Bull couldn't get near Kimi Antonelli's pole time, and Verstappen was clear-eyed about what that gap means for Sunday. Antonelli's Mercedes had already looked untouchable on the straights all weekend, and Verstappen confirmed the margin held even with a tow factored in.

"The gap, even in qualifying with a massive tow, is still over three tenths," he said, "so I don't really expect to race them tomorrow. I think it's more for me looking in the mirrors and fighting them, or trying to fight them, but mainly just trying to do my own race and see where we end up."

Spa's long Ardennes straights have made life difficult for Red Bull's rivals all year, and with the orange-clad crowds that flood the grandstands here every summer, Verstappen at least gets to attempt his own race in front of what amounts to a home crowd away from home. Asked what he could offer them on Sunday, he kept it simple: "It's always tough around here with the tyres in the long run, but I'll just do my best and then see if we can hang in there or not."

For Hadjar, Sunday is a different proposition entirely. Starting last with a compromised set-up already geared toward long-run pace rather than one-lap speed, he was cautious about his prospects of climbing back through the field at track that, on paper, rewards overtaking.

"It's harder than we might think," he said, "because we all have the same deployment strategy around here. I don't know. I hope I don't just get stuck there for the whole race in the straights."

A weekend that started with a penalty ended with Hadjar directly shaping his teammate's front row lockout of Mercedes. Whether it buys him anything back in the race remains to be seen.