Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing/3rd): “I need to apologise to Verstappen”

A fourth podium finish for Isack Hadjar in the thrilling World Championship race in São Paulo, held in the Interlagos district of the Brazilian city of 12 million. The 22-year-old Parisian put in a superb performance, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat the two world champions, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

This marks Hadjar’s third podium finish of the season (Monaco, Baku, Interlagos – always in P3) and his fourth overall (he also finished third at Zandvoort in 2025) – an impressive achievement.

On lap 38, Hadjar was still the closest challenger to Lando Norris when he was asked by Red Bull Racing to make way for the closing Max Verstappen. Which he did without hesitation. However, Verstappen was unable to make up as much ground on race leader Norris as he’d hoped. Hadjar timidly asked over the radio whether he would get his second place back. But that didn’t happen, because Verstappen pulled away from him.

Hadjar, who is eighth in the World Championship, spoke about his Grand Prix: “The conditions were incredibly difficult, especially in those laps after we switched from the intermediate tyres to the slicks.”

“The exit from the pits was extremely treacherous, really slippery. And towards the end, the rain picked up again. I’m very pleased to have finished third.”

“I need to make fewer mistakes in future. I also need to apologise to Verstappen. If I’d stayed closer to the ideal line during that phase of the race, I could have done better.”

“The track was extremely slippery. At one point I had Antonelli behind me; my car started to slide sideways – basically, I was testing the conditions for him, and he was able to watch it all unfold at his leisure. It was like driving on ice, and in the rear-view mirror I could see – it was like driving on ice for him too!”

“I was very lucky today: I nearly crashed into my pit crew during the pit stop! I certainly didn’t hit my mark, but they still managed a quick tyre change – a big thank you to my lads.”