A number of F1 drivers have held the second seat at Purple Bull throughout the previous decade, with most discovering the duty of going up in opposition to Max Verstappen to be a difficult one.
Isack Hadjar was the most recent to step up at first of the 2026 season, the French driver having impressed throughout his rookie marketing campaign at Racing Bulls final yr – and his performances thus far in his sophomore outing have additionally caught the attention of many.
However how does Hadjar stack up in opposition to Verstappen compared to those that got here earlier than him at Purple Bull?
Effectively, our information staff have been digging into the numbers to seek out out – and found some fascinating findings…
How Hadjar’s delta to Verstappen compares to earlier staff mates
Firstly, we checked out how Hadjar’s common Qualifying delta to Verstappen thus far compares to the Dutchman’s earlier staff mates at Purple Bull, taking 2017 as the start line (with this being Verstappen’s first full season on the staff). For context, the laps have been normalised to 90s in order that bigger or shorter laps did not skew the outcomes an excessive amount of.
The information exhibits that Hadjar is the driving force to get the closest to Verstappen since Daniel Ricciardo, with the 21-year-old’s present common deficit to his staff mate standing at simply over 0.1s. That is one of the best efficiency after Ricciardo, whose delta was the bottom of all at round half a tenth in 2017.
The hole elevated for Ricciardo in 2018 to only underneath 0.2s, which means that Hadjar has bettered this in addition to being dramatically nearer to Verstappen than those that held the seat within the years between.
Yuki Tsunoda skilled the largest deficit of all to Verstappen in 2025, the hole averaging at simply over 0.6s, whereas Alex Albon in 2020 and Sergio Perez in 2023 additionally discovered themselves greater than half a second off the four-time World Champion.
Pierre Gasly skilled an identical destiny, the now-Alpine racer and Albon sharing a median delta of round 0.5s in 2019 – a season that noticed Gasly compete in 12 races for Purple Bull earlier than being demoted again to the then-named Toro Rosso outfit in a direct swap with Albon.
How the factors hole matches up
Our information staff additionally examined the factors hole between Hadjar and Verstappen compared to current years at Purple Bull. This exhibits that Hadjar – at this stage of the season – is once more a kind of closest to Verstappen, with the deficit presently at 41 factors after 11 rounds.
Whereas there may be nonetheless a technique to go in 2026, the numbers paint fairly a distinct image in comparison with earlier years. The hole was at its greatest final season, with Verstappen ending the marketing campaign a whopping 388 factors forward of Tsunoda.
The deficit was additionally huge in 2023, Verstappen being 290 factors away from Perez – although it must be famous that Perez was nonetheless the Dutch driver’s closest competitor in P2 of the championship, highlighting Purple Bull’s dominance throughout that season.
Ricciardo is the one driver to attain extra factors than Verstappen throughout a season collectively at Purple Bull, a feat that occurred again in 2017 when the Australian’s tally of 200 factors put him 32 forward of Verstappen’s 168.
Whereas Verstappen scored greater than Ricciardo in 2018, the hole stood at 79 factors – making it the bottom deficit over the course of a full season thus far.
With the second half of the 2026 season nonetheless to play out, it stays to be seen if Hadjar can finish the championship with a fair decrease factors hole to his staff mate than that achieved by Ricciardo – however the statistics from the marketing campaign thus far are definitely promising for the Frenchman.
