Isack Hadjar clearly put himself in the spotlight during the recent Australian GP. The brand-new Red Bull driver qualified in an impressive third place for his first race on behalf of the main team. In the race, he had to retire early due to engine failure, but that didn’t make his performance any less impressive. Moreover, it has been a long time since a Red Bull debutant excelled alongside Max Verstappen, as former mechanic Calum Nicholas also knows.
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Nicholas was a top mechanic within Red Bull for a long time. Since leaving the Formula 1 garage, he has been an important ambassador for the Austrian racing team. In the podcast Talking Bull he examined the first Grand Prix of the new F1 season. The Englishman was very pleased with Isack Hadjar’s first Red Bull performance. “This was the best qualifying for a debut race since Max Verstappen in 2016,” he said of the young Parisian’s third-fastest time.
‘Verstappen accelerates Hadjar’s development’
According to Nicholas, the team has finally found a good partner for Verstappen in Hadjar. In recent years, the four-time world champion has gone through several teammates; they could rarely match the Limburger. “It is very clear that Hadjar possesses that raw speed,” Nicholas explained. “With Max, it was always very nice to see how he developed all his other skills. He always had the raw speed, but his other qualities came at a later age.” The former mechanic expects that Hadjar, because he can learn from Verstappen, will go through an even faster development process. “The fact that he is now paired with Max means he will pick those things up even faster.”
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“Isack also seems ready to do that,” Nicholas added. “What strikes me is that he is incredibly hard on himself. He will have to learn to be a bit more forgiving. You need a winner’s mentality, of course, but I think Max can teach him that being so self-critical is also detrimental. Max will generally have a good influence on him.”
Despite all of Verstappen’s criticism of the changed regulations, Nicholas sees that the Dutchman remains calm under all challenges. “I enjoy seeing Max stay so calm,” he said. “He accepts the fact that the team is not at the front and wants to make progress. In doing so, he grabs every opportunity with both hands and continues to overtake as many cars as possible. Max has already shown that the car has a lot of potential.”
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