Mekies labels Hadjar's Belgian Grand Prix 'the best race with us without question'

Laurent Mekies heaped the praise on Isack Hadjar after he went on the charge from P21 to P6 during the Belgian Grand Prix, with the Red Bull Team Principal asserting that it was his “best race with us, no question”.

Just like McLaren and Aston Martin, Red Bull selected Spa-Francorchamps as the best venue to replace a variety of power unit elements, with the hope that overtaking would be easier at the historic circuit.

No one proved that more than Hadjar, who progressed to Q3 before his cumulative 30-place grid penalty was applied and he was relegated to P21, only avoiding last place due to Fernando Alonso’s similar drop.

From there, he steadily made his way through the field, before making the most of a bold tyre strategy that saw him pit twice early on, with Red Bull targeting a long final stint on the hard compound.

The call wound up being too optimistic and Hadjar was forced to box a third time, but he had already gained enough positions to avoid losing out, eventually holding off Lando Norris to cross the line in sixth place.

“Look, I think it is his best race,” Mekies said. “It is the best race with us, no question. Honestly, it's not only a spike, it has been just a little bit better every single race for speed. So he's bringing some speed every time he's driving.

“Today is another step, this weekend is another step, because he was very, very fast from FP1.

“And yes, we've put him on a slightly unusual strategy, which in the end with the timing of the VSC also offered him the possibility to beat Lando fundamentally. So it was good.

“He was very, very strong. His pace was top three pace, so [I’m] very happy with his progress.”

It’s true that Hadjar’s fastest lap was the third quickest of the race behind Norris and Kimi Antonelli, indicating just how strong Red Bull were in Belgium, despite running an older specification of their rear wing.

Although Max Verstappen also enjoyed a positive result of P3, Mekies was keen to emphasise that the team still have plenty of work to do in order to unlock this kind of performance at every circuit.

He explained: “I still think we are still suffering here on an energy-starving track. We will soon find out if Budapest will give us a bit of an upside or not. We are trying to progress on our side.

“We have some homework to do to progress at this sort of track as well. We don't think we have discovered all the tricks. I say that in a good way – all the good tricks that are needed to be very, very strong on these sorts of tracks, for energy management.”