Why didn’t Verstappen give the position back to Hadjar? Mekies says it would have made no sense

Red Bull were comfortably on course for a double podium before the Grand Prix had even reached its halfway point. They could settle for that or try to wrest the race lead from Lando Norris. They chose the latter and gave Verstappen the strongest possible hand, including Hadjar’s cards. The young Frenchman never got them back. According to Mekies, he was too far behind for that.

Kimi Antonelli went off at the start of lap 24. Max Verstappen could thank him from afar for third place and slowly began reeling in second-placed Isack Hadjar. The gap barely changed, however, until the Frenchman made a mistake on lap 35 and lost 1.5 seconds. Red Bull responded by swapping their drivers’ positions.

Isack Hadjar obeyed the instruction but asked his engineer for reassurance that, if Max Verstappen failed to get ahead of Norris, he would be given second place back. That approach is ideal for both sides. The team can pick up extra points and, if the attack fails, the co-operative team-mate loses nothing.

It soon became clear, however, that the attempt was fruitless and Hadjar had not been holding his team-mate up. Verstappen actually began losing ground to Norris, while Hadjar stayed with him without much difficulty until the pit stops.

Pitting earlier gained Verstappen ten seconds in track time; over five laps on fresh softs, he was much quicker than Hadjar on old tyres. Those same ten seconds separated the Red Bull drivers at the chequered flag. It could have been less had the rain not denied Hadjar the opportunity to gain ground on fresher tyres in the closing stages.

According to team principal Laurent Mekies, Red Bull intended to give Hadjar the position back, but it ultimately did not happen. “I think we would have done it,” he said after the race. “If the cars had stayed close together, we would have done it because Isack had a very strong pace and he stayed with Max, as you have seen, after the swap.”

“But then, as the race panned out and the rain came again, the cars were very, very distant, and it wouldn’t have made sense. Plus, with increased rain intensity at the end, it would not have made any sense,” the French engineer reiterated.

However, had Red Bull wanted to, they could easily have given Hadjar second place back. Lando Norris had an unassailable lead in the closing stages, while George Russell was almost ten seconds behind.

But if we recall the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix and Verstappen’s reluctance to help Sergio Pérez, even though both titles had already been decided, it is hardly surprising that the team management were hesitant to ask Verstappen to return the favour.

“But I have to say, Max and Isack worked very, very strongly together to give us the result,” added Mekies.