Red Bull's Hadjar admits he 'doesn't understand' performance gap to Verstappen

A teammate of Verstappen struggling to get to grips with their performance deficit is, of course, nothing new, with former Red Bull drivers Yuki Tsunoda, Sergio Perez, and Alex Albon all struggling up against the Dutchman in the past. While alarm bells are hardly ringing just yet for promising talent Hadjar after just three races, his confusion does somewhat echo what we have become accustomed to at Red Bull in recent seasons.

Speaking to Canal+ after Sprint Qualifying, Hadjar reflected on his Friday, in which he had also finished the sole practice session in Miami 1.3s behind Verstappen. He said: “Honestly, since this morning, I’ve been struggling to… I don’t really understand what’s going on. It’s frustrating; I’m a second behind my team-mate.”

“I’ve always known why I was slower and why I was sometimes faster than him in the first three Grands Prix. But a second? We’ll have to find out why. I know I can still drive. I’m not going to understand it.

On the other side of the garage, Verstappen was pleased with the progress made by Red Bull over the April break. Speaking to Sky F1, Verstappen said he feels Red Bull "have halved" their gap to championship leaders Mercedes, a much-needed boost considering they currently sit 119 points behind the Silver Arrows.

Verstappen said: "It feels more together. Of course, there are still things that we are working on, but it's been a really positive step for us. You know, last few races we were like over a second behind. I would say we have almost halved that gap now, so that's positive."

"It feels a bit more normal, a bit more together. It's still not where I want it to be, obviously, but it's at least allowing me to trust it a bit more and I can basically take a bit more lap time out of it."