F1 / NEWS & CONTEXT

Hadjar sees possible Red Bull edge in Verstappen’s Malaysia experience

Isack Hadjar believes Max Verstappen’s experience in Malaysia could offer Red Bull a small advantage, while tyre management shapes his preparations.

GPBeat · Newsroom01 Oct 2026, 19:10 · 1 min

Hadjar said Verstappen’s experience at the Malaysian circuit could help Red Bull as the team prepares for the race. Verstappen won Formula 1’s last race there, in 2017. Hadjar told RacingNews365 Nederland and other reporters that the advantage might be small, but that he intends to make use of it. He has practised in a simulator, he said, though he believes it cannot fully reproduce driving the circuit.

Hadjar also expects tyre management to be a challenge. He suggested the race could require two or even three pit stops, in contrast with the one-stop running he described in Baku, and said longer practice runs would be his priority. He expects a track temperature of around 50C.

For Hadjar, the immediate task is to use practice to understand how the tyres behave.

Sources 01

SOURCEHadjar spot Red Bull-voordeel in Maleisië dankzij VerstappenRacingNews365 Nederland · Source date as found: 2026-10-01

Source context

Source: RacingNews365 Nederland’s 1 October 2026 report of Hadjar’s pre-race comments to reporters.

Claims and supporting evidence 3

Isack Hadjar told RacingNews365 and other reporters that having Max Verstappen on his team offers an advantage because Verstappen won the last F1 race in Malaysia. Hadjar expressly qualified that the advantage might be small; it is his assessment, not a demonstrated performance gain.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. Hadjar’s assessment of a possible Red Bull advantage at the upcoming race in Malaysia Ahead of the October 2026 race weekend The retrieved article supplies Hadjar’s remarks but no measurement of an advantage.

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Hadjar said he had practised in a simulator, but considered experience of the real circuit different and not fully reproducible there.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. Hadjar’s reason for valuing Verstappen’s circuit experience Ahead of the October 2026 race weekend This explains Hadjar’s reasoning; it does not establish how much experience will affect the team’s result.

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Hadjar expected tyre management to be difficult and suggested the race could require two or even three pit stops. He estimated track temperature at around 50 degrees and said longer practice runs would be a priority.

This source finding must be read within the stated scope and source context. Context for Hadjar’s expectations of the race The forthcoming October 2026 race weekend The stops and temperature are pre-race expectations, not observed race outcomes or a measured track temperature.

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Corrections and updates to this story

01 Oct 2026, 19:20

Correction: wording in analysis was amended following source verification. Corresponding translated passages were updated and checked; the remaining text is unchanged.

This article was produced with AI assistance. Source references make its supporting evidence traceable.