Isack Hadjar driving for Red Bull closed the gap to teammate Max Verstappen during the 2026 Formula 1 season, producing qualifying and points metrics that place him among the closest challengers to Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo; this performance unfolded across the 2026 calendar including rounds in AustraliaChinaMonaco and the British Grand Prix. Latest update: 16 August 2026.
The development matters because Hadjar’s season-to-date numbers change the historic narrative around the Red Bull second seat and intersect with a separate midfield story: Hadjar’s former team, Racing Bulls rose to fifth in the Teams’ Championship after scoring double points in key events. The comparison spans data points beginning in 2017—Verstappen’s first full season at Red Bull—and references performance markers across subsequent seasons through 2019 and into the most recent campaigns.
Qualifying deltas: Hadjar versus Verstappen and predecessors
Analysis of average qualifying deltas shows Hadjar posting an average deficit to Verstappen of just over 0.1 seconds, making him the closest team mate to Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo’s closest season cited was 2018 when his average delta to Verstappen registered at just under 0.2 seconds. Other recent team mates were further adrift: Yuki Tsunoda recorded an average deficit of over 0.6 seconds in 2026 while Alex Albon and Sergio Perez were more than 0.5 seconds behind in their respective seasons. Pierre Gasly and Albon shared average deltas around 0.5 seconds in 2019 a period marked by Gasly’s demotion back to the then-named Toro Rosso after 12 races.
Points gap and championship context after 11 rounds
After 11 rounds of the 2026 season Hadjar trailed Verstappen by 41 points, a deficit that ranks among the smallest margins Red Bull teammates have carried relative to Verstappen in recent history. By contrast, Verstappen’s dominance in earlier campaigns produced far larger advantages: in one season Verstappen finished 388 points ahead of Tsunoda, and in another he led Perez by 290 points. Ricciardo remains the only driver who outscored Verstappen over a season together at Red Bull, finishing 32 points ahead in 2017 while the smallest full-season deficit after that year was 79 points in 2018. With the second half of the 2026 calendar pending, Hadjar’s current trajectory prompts comparisons to those historic benchmarks.
Racing Bulls’ midfield ascent and key race results
Racing Bulls, Hadjar’s former outfit, climbed to fifth in the Teams’ Championship in 2026 through a sequence of consistent results including double points finishes in Monaco and the British Grand Prix. The team achieved early momentum when rookie Arvid Lindblad scored on his debut in Australia and teammate Liam Lawson converted a P7 in China into further points. Monaco provided the team’s first double points weekend as Lawson finished sixth ahead of Lindblad in seventh; the British Grand Prix produced a similar outcome that helped Racing Bulls overtake Alpine by one point to take P5.
Team Principal Alan Permane highlighted operational performance as a factor in the rise, while Lawson sat at P9 in the Drivers’ Championship at the time of the reported standings and led his head-to-head record with Lindblad 8-3. Lindblad adopted a race-by-race approach focused on maximizing opportunities, and Lawson aimed to maintain a ‘best of the rest’ pace to consolidate the team’s position against Alpine and other midfield rivals.
Alpine’s response and midfield rivalry details
Alpine improved markedly from the prior season, nearly tripling its points tally, yet suffered a loss of momentum in recent rounds with neither driver scoring in Austria or Hungary. Pierre Gasly produced Alpine’s highlight with a podium in Monaco, securing third despite time penalties earlier in the weekend, and teammate Franco Colapinto recorded a career-best P6 in Canada. Incidents affecting the midfield narrative included Gasly’s contact with Lawson in Miami that led to a dramatic flip for Lawson’s car and a retirement for Lawson in that event; Lindblad also missed a sprint due to a technical issue in Miami.
The ongoing contest between Racing Bulls and Alpine defined the midfield battle: Racing Bulls sought to hold P5 and mark the best finish in the team’s history, surpassing previous sixth-place outcomes accrued across its incarnations as Toro RossoAlpha and related guises, while Alpine aimed to unlock more race pace and support Colapinto to match Gasly’s consistency.
The season’s remaining rounds will determine if Hadjar can reduce the full-season points gap below Ricciardo’s 32-point benchmark from 2017 and whether Racing Bulls can convert current form into the team’s best-ever championship finish.
