Red Bull told Hadjar not to attack Verstappen during Azerbaijan GP

An unbroadcast team order barred Isack Hadjar from passing Max Verstappen during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, despite a radio exchange aired on the world feed that appeared to allow a fight. The instruction came as the team managed different tyre strategies and sought to keep both cars close enough for a consecutive pit stop under the Safety Car.

Red Bull instructed Isack Hadjar not to pass team-mate Max Verstappen during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a message Formula One Management did not include on the world feed. Viewers heard an earlier exchange that appeared to leave Hadjar free to compete for position, but the team later ordered him not to attack Verstappen again after the Dutch driver passed him on lap seven.

The account of the radio messages was published by RaceFans on Sept. 28, 2026, at 10:52 a.m. and written by Keith Collantine. Red Bull race engineer Richard Wood told Hadjar, “race time is priority here,” as the team directed him not to fight his team-mate. The order was not broadcast, leaving television viewers unaware that Red Bull had called off the battle between its drivers.

The team had started the cars on different compounds: Hadjar on soft tyres and Verstappen on mediums. The tyres behaved differently from what Red Bull expected. Hadjar’s softs provided more grip and lasted longer, allowing him to remain close to Verstappen, while Verstappen initially closed on Oscar Piastri, who was also using softs.

From around lap 12, Verstappen began to fall back. As Hadjar lost time behind him, Red Bull asked whether he could lap faster with his team-mate no longer ahead. Hadjar said he was content to remain behind at that point, but later grew concerned about the time he was losing and raised it with Wood. He was left waiting for a response.

At the end of lap 26, Hadjar drew closer to Verstappen and had an opportunity to attack at Turn 1. He asked Wood whether he could pass. Wood replied, “keep it clean”. The exchange aired on the world feed shortly afterward and occurred before Verstappen moved to cover the inside of the corner, where Hadjar had let him through 20 laps earlier.

On the following lap, Red Bull told Hadjar he could not attack Verstappen again. Soon after, Hadjar began reporting problems with his car’s handling. The two cars continued to run close together when the Safety Car was deployed, and Wood signalled that Red Bull had prepared for the situation, telling Hadjar, “I think you know what’s going to happen here.”

Hadjar had been within a second of Verstappen before the Safety Car. He then dropped four seconds behind, leaving the pit crew room to service both cars one after the other in the pits. The sequence allowed Red Bull to bring in both drivers consecutively while managing the gap between them.

The report places the team’s caution in the context of a previous collision between Verstappen and another Red Bull team-mate at Baku in 2018. It also recalls that Verstappen once rejected a request to let a team-mate pass. On that occasion, he told the team: “I told you already last time guys, don’t ask that again to me.”

The account does not say whether Verstappen would have followed the same instruction Hadjar received earlier in the race. The unbroadcast order meant the world feed showed Hadjar asking whether he could pass and being told to keep it clean, but did not show the subsequent direction that he was not permitted to attack Verstappen.

Based on reporting by RaceFans.