It should not come as a major surprise to see Isack Hadjar just 28 thousandths of a second away from four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen after qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. The explanation is not necessarily a sudden collapse in Verstappen’s pace, but rather a series of technical experiments carried out on the Dutch driver’s Red Bull RB22 that simply failed to deliver the intended results. The tyres were not reaching the correct operating temperature window, and the car also lacked the top speed needed on Montreal’s long straights.
Red Bull’s Canadian Grand Prix weekend is shaping up to be one worth closely watching. Max Verstappen will start only sixth on the grid for Sunday’s race, with young teammate Isack Hadjar immediately behind him after an impressive qualifying performance, separated by just 28 milliseconds. For a driver of Verstappen’s calibre, such a narrow gap to his less experienced teammate naturally raises questions. The Dutch driver openly complained about the behaviour of the RB22, explaining that the car was struggling to bring the tyres into the optimal temperature range while also lacking the straight-line speed required to be competitive at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
These are two absolutely critical factors when chasing performance in Montreal. At the speed trap, Max Verstappen was recorded at 4.9 km/h slower than Isack Hadjar. The French driver ranked sixth in the speed figures, while the Dutchman was only 16th, an unusually poor statistic for Red Bull. So what exactly happened?
At first glance, one might assume that Red Bull’s latest upgrade package, an evolution of the developments first introduced in Miami, simply failed to work. The Milton Keynes-based team arrived at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit with a revised front wing, modifications to the floor, and two reliability-focused interventions, including larger engine cover cooling outlets and bigger brake ducts designed to handle Montreal’s demanding heavy braking zones.
However, the upgrades themselves were not the main source of Max Verstappen’s difficulties. Instead, the bigger issue appears to have been setup decisions taken by technical director Pierre Waché and head of race engineering Gianpiero Lambiase.
Red Bull chose to retain the baseline setup on Isack Hadjar’s RB22 while using car number 3 as a test platform for more experimental adjustments. The idea was that this setup direction could potentially open a new development pathway and unlock a meaningful performance gain. According to reports, Red Bull’s engineers had to strongly push for this approach because Max Verstappen was initially against the changes. That alone is a noteworthy development, given the usual dynamic inside the team.
“Something different was done to my car, but it was what the team wanted,” Max Verstappen explained. “Clearly, it did not work the way it should have. But sometimes you have to let the team make their own choices so they can understand when something does not work…”
This represented a rather unusual shift in Red Bull’s normal operating approach. Historically, the team has treated Max Verstappen’s feedback almost as definitive guidance. Over the years, there have been countless examples of Red Bull tailoring its cars around the Dutchman’s highly aggressive driving preferences. Max Verstappen has consistently pushed for extreme setup characteristics, often producing incredibly fast but notoriously difficult cars that have repeatedly caused major problems for his teammates.
This time, however, the engineers effectively imposed their own direction, and the evidence from qualifying suggests that the decision was the wrong one.
“Of course, they always listen to me, or at least most of the time,” Max Verstappen added. “But not this time, because they were convinced they were on the right path. I would have left the car as it was because it was already working reasonably well, but at least now they understand. I am not someone who is easily satisfied with a car. I want to fight for victory, not for seventh place.”
The threat of rain could dramatically change the picture. Under the updated regulations, teams may be allowed to make setup changes if weather conditions justify it, and Max Verstappen could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of such an opportunity. The Dutch driver has repeatedly demonstrated exceptional skill in wet conditions, often extracting performance where others struggle. Anyone already ruling him out of a strong result in the Canadian Grand Prix may need to reconsider that assessment.
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