Villeneuve defends Red Bull's lack of team orders at Azerbaijan GP: 'There was no reason'
Photo: Race Pictures
16:01, 27 Sep
2 Comments
Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has defended Red Bull's decision not to swap drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar during the Azerbaijan GP. Armed with upgrades in Baku, the Milton Keynes team ultimately scored an impressive double podium.
The result is Verstappen's seventh podium of the season - his third in succession - while Hadjar performed particularly strongly on his return from a wrist injury that had kept him out of action for the three races since F1's return from the summer break.
After an impressive start from a lowly P8 Qualifying position, Verstappen had made his way up to third by Lap 7, a position he gained at Turn 1 from Hadjar, who appeared to yield rather easily after being reminded: "Race time is priority here."
However, unlike many of Verstappen's previous Red Bull teammates, Hadjar kept the Dutchman honest all throughout the opening stint, lapping quicker than the four-time world champion while on the more effective soft tyre.
As Verstappen hovered in and out of overtake mode behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Hadjar did then indicate he had the pace, and queried as to whether the Dutchman was struggling. "He's going through a bad phase with the (medium) tyres," was the response.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ultimately, no order ever came, and once he had pitted for softs under the Lap 31 Safety Car at Baku, Verstappen was finally able to pull away from Hadjar upon a second Safety Car restart, and set about chasing Mercedes' George Russell, missing out on the win by just 0.1s at the chequered flag.
Read also
Villeneuve: Red Bull's Baku strategy was perfect
Photo: Race Pictures
While many questioned Red Bull's decision at the time not to issue team orders, perhaps in a comparison with Ferrari's handling of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the Dutch GP, former Williams man Villeneuve said Red Bull had done the right thing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Speaking on Sky F1 after the race, the Canadian said: "It was perfect. There was no reason to ask Max to let Isack by. Hadjar was on the better tyre and the lap time was similar to Max.
"So at one point they would swap over the tyre and, as we've seen, Max built an eight-second gap on Hadjar [in the final laps]. Max had a better chance of getting to the front so they did the right thing."
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies clearly thought so too, telling Sky F1 that the team had explored other scenarios but ultimately landed on the conclusion Verstappen would have a better shot at victory later on with the soft tyres.
"We looked at all these scenarios, honestly," Mekies said. "And then we elected to hold the car in those positions. Both drivers have been very good at being disciplined with that. Big well done also to Isack who has raced very cleverly to make sure we get the best team result.
"We felt it was the best chance to get a chance at Piastri and at Russell. It's very difficult here not to count on a safety car at some stage. We were all waiting for the safety car.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Max was struggling with the medium at that stage and we knew that on the soft we would have a better chance. Ultimately, that's what happened. We are missing one tenth but we got a chance to fight with him and show we had the same pace.”
Don’t miss GPblog in Google
Mark us as a preferred source and our articles will appear more often at the top of Top Stories.
Add as a preferred / source on GoogleRead more about:
latest news
Bahrain Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 02.10.26
Practice 1
04:30 AM
Practice 2
08:00 AM
Saturday 03.10.26
Practice 3
04:30 AM
Qualification
08:00 AM
Sunday 04.10.26
Race
07:00 AM
Friday 02.10.26
Practice 1
Fri 04:30 AM
Practice 2
Fri 08:00 AM
Saturday 03.10.26
Practice 3
Sat 04:30 AM
Qualification
Sat 08:00 AM
Sunday 04.10.26
Race
Sun 07:00 AM
Times are in your local timezone
Rumors
Popular on GPBlog
1
FIA reaches verdict on Hadjar as rival is hit with time penalty
4527 times read
2
F1 Today | Russell beats Verstappen to Baku win, Hamilton responds to Horner rumours
3303 times read
3
Leclerc may have said too much on new Ferrari engine in Baku
2816 times read
4
Hamilton's telling one-word response to Vasseur-Horner Ferrari rumours
2045 times read
F1-stand 2026
Season
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | MercedesMER | 302 | |
2 | MercedesMER | 236 | |
3 | FerrariFER | 199 | |
4 | McLarenMCL | 186 | |
5 | FerrariFER | 179 | |
6 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 163 | |
7 | McLarenMCL | 120 | |
8 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 86 | |
9 | Racing BullsRCB | 59 | |
10 | AlpineALP | 41 |
Loading
