Isack Hadjar concedes Max Verstappen is “very fast” in “his car” after Zak Brown proclaimed Red Bull would be behind Racing Bulls without the Dutchman.

A lot has been said about Verstappen’s Formula 1 future after George Russell revealed the Dutchman is in “ongoing” conversations with Toto Wolff about a move to Mercedes.

Isack Hadjar: Max Verstappen in the Red Bull is very fast, it’s his car

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Losing the four-time World Champion would be a huge blow to Red Bull as Verstappen has been their standout driver in the years since Daniel Ricciardo’s departure.

He’s won four World titles and 60 grands prix since, while his five team-mates have managed a combined total of five race wins.

This season, Verstappen is alone in scoring big points for Red Bull with 165 on the board, all but seven of Red Bull’s tally.

It had Brown warning the Milton Keynes team that it would hurt them to lose him.

“Red Bull would be behind Racing Bulls,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown declared to Sky F1. “I think Max is carrying them at the moment.”

But while Liam Lawson feels Brown oversimplified the situation, Hadjar concedes Verstappen can pull performances out of the Red Bull F1 cars that others simply cannot.

Red Bull team-mates: F1 2025 head-to-head stats

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Put to him that Lawson said Brown doesn’t know what he is saying, Hadjar told media including PlanetF1.com: “I think Max in the Red Bull is very fast. It’s his car, and he drives it to the absolute limit.

“It’s a more efficient car in high-speed corners. It’s a faster car, but it’s apparently hard to exploit most of it.”

Hadjar’s early-season team-mate Yuki Tsunoda is finding that out. He’s scored seven points in his 10 races with Red Bull, putting him on 10 for the season, 11 behind Hadjar in the more forgiving Racing Bulls car.

He was asked if he would be open to swapping with the Japanese driver before the season is over.

“At the moment I’m not doing… It’s not like I’m in total control,” he said. “I’m scoring points every weekend and still lots to learn, so it makes more sense to stay where I’m at the moment, that’s for sure.”

Still in his rookie season, the 20-year-old acknowledges that if he was at Red Bull right now, he’d be on the back foot every weekend as a rookie up against a four-time World Champion.

“That means you would start the weekend on the back foot all the time, because he gets in the rhythm, he’s very explosive. He gets in the rhythm very fast,” he said.

“You will always have to make up that time and try and get there.

“So definitely a different approach, something I never experienced because I never faced a four-time World Champion.”

Hadjar is reportedly the favourite to join Red Bull next season, replacing Tsunoda.

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