Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar produced a superb performance in the 2026 F1 Belgian GP to finish P6 after starting down in P21 because of engine component changes that led to a 30-place grid drop.
Starting on the hard tyre, the Frenchman overtook Sainz, Pérez, Bottas and Stroll during the opening lap before the Safety Car. The DNF for George Russell and a puncture for Esteban Ocon left him P15.
Red Bull then played a smart strategy game. They pitted car #6 and fitted mediums, before switching immediately back to another set of hards tyre the next time around to tick off the mandatory tyre rule in a Grand Prix.
Once the Safety Car came in, he had to work his way through from P21 once more. He made quick work of Ocon, the Cadillacs and Astons on the restart, before passing Bearman, Sainz, Albon, Hülkenberg and Bortoleto to move towards the front of the midfield. Once the Alpines and Racing Bulls boxed, he was 7th.
A second VSC on lap 20 opened the door for a second stop. With Lando Norris going long and then having a painfully slow stop, that moved the 2025 Dutch GP podium finisher into P6. It is where he finished.
Isack Hadjar on the strategy in 2026 F1 Belgian GP
Speaking in the print media pen post-race, the Red Bull driver explained his initial confusion on the strategy that his team had done.
“Yeah, even I was a bit lost with the pit stops, but I trust the guys.
“And after a few laps I actually understood why we did that. I was a bit slow in the head, I have to say.
“But yeah, it paid off well, and just the pace was strong. The hard, that second stint, I was very happy.
“So yeah, not much to improve today.”
He then talked about the first lap and overtaking the aforementioned drivers. Hadjar joked that he would have stayed at the back if he knew what was coming regarding stops.
“I was like, ‘why did I take so many risks? You should have told me, I would have stayed last.’ But obviously we didn’t know there was going to be a Safety Car.
“Yeah, it was a bit frustrating, but it paid off.”
Very happy with his pace all weekend
Much like at Silverstone, Isack Hadjar was very fast through Friday and into Saturday, although Max Verstappen did complain of a lack of power at Silverstone.
This time, around, however, it continued into Sunday at Spa as he had no front wing issues to contend with. It was his most complete weekend at the team so far.
Nonetheless, he was left to rue an opportunity missed because of the grid penalty.
“Yeah, that’s the issue. Frustrating, because I feel like if I just do the weekend without any penalties, I think I’m fighting for a podium, considering the pace.”
While he was a bit surprised by how strong Red Bull were at Spa, he was expecting his own showing to be good. His race pace confirms this.
In the final stint, he closed a 14.2s gap to Max Verstappen at the end of the first green flag lap following the VSC to 11.8s at the chequered flag. Hadjar also made inroads into Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri — who were carrying damage — hence his belief a podium was possible at the 2026 F1 Belgian GP.
“Surprising in a way that I didn’t believe a track like this would suit us.
“But not really surprised in terms of my own performance and delivering finally a strong race pace with clean air. I think Silverstone was super frustrating for me, not being able to show the pace. I was a bit in no-man’s-land.
“Today I think it was the most complete one I had, so I need to keep pushing.”
Isack Hadjar on holding off Lando Norris at the end of 2026 F1 Belgian GP
In the closing laps, the driver of car #6 had McLaren’s Lando Norris hunting him down as the World Champion was flying on mediums. However, Hadjar fended him off, posting a personal best on the final lap of a 1:49.298 to finish 0.7s ahead of car #1.
The former Racing Bulls driver revealed he deliberately looked after his tyres during the middle part of the stint to have something left in the tank for the final five laps or so.
“I wanted to keep some tyres for when he comes within 3 seconds of me, which I did, and I even set my fastest lap at the end.
“I think that was close but well-managed.”
Overtaking difficulties
Although passing the Cadillacs, Aston Martins and midfield cars seemed to be relatively straightforward for Isack Hadjar in the 2026 F1 Belgian GP, he said that it was quite tricky because of everyone using deployment on the two long flat out areas in Sectors 1 and 3.
“To be fair, getting the overtakes done was a bit harder than I thought, because, like I said, we all have the same deployment strategies.
“It’s hard to pass going into Turn 5 and going into Turn 18, because you’re not very much faster, so you need to find somewhere else in Sector 2.
“I think when you have the pace advantage, I think last year’s cars were probably easier to make it through.
“But yeah, it doesn’t really matter.”
