Red Bull team boss Mekies answers burning Verstappen - Hadjar question

13:00, 02 Sep

byNicole Mulder

The Dutch Grand Prix resulted in a second place for Red Bull Racing with Max Verstappen, but the day was particularly notable because of Isack Hadjar. The young Frenchman claimed his first Formula 1 podium for Racing Bulls after Lando Norris suffered a retirement in the closing stages. Team boss Laurent Mekies was full of praise for the rookie's accomplishment after the race.

Hadjar qualified strongly in fourth and managed to maintain that form during the race. The Frenchman continued behind Verstappen in the opening phase and kept up that pace for most of the race. Mekies emphasises that the rookie did not receive his first trophy – which, by the way, did not survive the celebrations as a whole – as a gift.

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Mekies full of praise for Hadjar

In talks with, among others, GPblog, he looks back at the Dutch GP in Zandvoort. "For Isaac, it's an extraordinary race. I think you can see it by yourself. I think it was coming.

"It's just a testimony of how good of a driver he is, of how [an] amazing of a job he has been doing since the beginning of the season,” begins the Red Bull team boss.

“He doesn't score a podium on a day where you have a wet race and strange conditions. He put the car in P4 on merit yesterday in qualifying, and he stayed a couple of seconds from Max all race long.

"So hats off to him, to Racing Bulls. And again, it doesn't come by luck, it comes after a lot of hard work from these guys," he adds.

Verstappen and Hadjar

Verstappen had to yield to the McLarens in the end - after a strong opening lap in which he overtook Lando Norris - but ultimately benefited from Norris's engine problems and finished in P2. Hadjar moved up to third place and thereby secured his first F1 podium.

Hadjar was able to keep up with Verstappen's pace and at times even came close to the DRS distance of the Dutchman.

The question of whether the rookie would have been allowed to attack Verstappen if given the chance, is clearly answered by Mekies: "If he was not allowed, it would be illegal.

"So the answer is yes, he is allowed. And I remind you that last race, we finished behind the Racing Bulls in Budapest," he concluded.