This may be anecdotal given the Australian Grand Prix is just the first round of the 2026 Formula 1 season, but Isack Hadjar is the first driver to lead Max Verstappen in their qualifying head-to-head since Daniel Ricciardo early in the 2017 campaign.
That is largely down to Verstappen crashing out of Q1 in Melbourne with what may be a technical fault – Red Bull is “still trying to fully understand what happened”, team boss Laurent Mekies said. Regardless, Hadjar stepped up and grabbed third position on the Albert Park grid behind the untouchable Silver Arrows.
